When district funds fall short, parent/teacher organizations
often help pick up the tab, working with San Benito County schools
to raise funds for just about everything they need, from pens and
pencils to dances and graduation ceremonies.
Hollister – When district funds fall short, parent/teacher organizations often help pick up the tab, working with San Benito County schools to raise funds for just about everything they need, from pens and pencils to dances and graduation ceremonies.
Teachers at Spring Grove School have Internet connections and phone lines in their classrooms because the district’s PTO donated nearly $50,000 last year to help the school update its antiquated communication systems, Superintendent Howard Chase said.
In addition to bringing new technology into the classroom, the Spring Grove PTO funds all of the school’s field trips.
“They are an integral part of the school,” he said. “In my 31 years in education this is the most dedicated PTO I’ve ever worked with.”
The days are long gone when parents complained about the Defense Department getting all the money it needed while the schools held bake sales to pay for necessities. These days, many local parents are just excited to be able to help.
For parents like Karen Nanagareda, treasurer of the Spring Grove PTO, volunteering to help out is not a superhuman task, it is simply another way to make sure students get the best education possible.
“We just try to fill the (funding) gaps,” she said. “And we try to make the job easier for teachers.”
Southside School District benefits from having both a PTO organization and a foundation, Superintendent Eric Johnson said. For example, the Southside PTO is paying half the salary of the school’s Physical Education teacher this year, while interest from the school’s endowment helped purchased a new server and software for the school’s computers.
“We’re keeping up with technology and we couldn’t do it without them,” Johnson said. “They’re an invaluable tool.”
Although the Calaveras Elementary School Parents Club is small, it boosts school spirit year round, Calaveras Principal Christine White said.
“Our Parents Club is absolutely wonderful,” she said. “They only have two members right now, but we’re trying to get more people involved.”
Last year the Calaveras Parents Club raised money to purchase natural disaster kits, which include food, bottled water and other emergency supplies for every classroom at the school. The club also helps fund field trips, fifth grade graduation and a teachers appreciation day luncheon.
“Without them, (the money) would just come out of our pockets,” White said. “They fund things that would normally get put on the back burner.”
The Marguerite Maze Middle School Parent Teacher Student Organization, which raised $10,000 for the school through a candy sale last week, funds a number of projects each year that may seem small, but end up making a huge difference to both students and teachers, said Ray Thorpe, the organization’s president.
Small things, like putting a sign with the school’s name in front of the building, securing funds and chaperones for school dances, “just wouldn’t happen,” without the PTSO, Thorpe said.
However, Maze’s PTSO is missing one thing.
“More dads should come to the meetings,” Thorpe said.
Brett Rowland covers education for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected]
