>>>>>Nonsense = things like Father/Daughter dances, Halloween parties and the like being supported by schools.
>>>>>There are other institutions in the society for that kind of activity and there are private schools parents can use which allow people to do pretty much whatever they like.
>>>>
>>>>Leaving out Father/Daughter dances, these events are not supported by schools; they support schools. PTAs, PTOs, etc. raise tons of money for schools, and often contribute really meaningful things. For example, in my kids' elementary school, the PTO paid for assembly programs (with professional involvement in selecting them), as well as over a 5-year period, putting fans into every classroom in this un-air conditioned school. Can't remember what school it was (one I went to, one my kids went to, one my mom taught in), but the PTO paid for buses for one trip per class per year, essentially ensuring that every class got at least one trip per year.
>>>>
>>>>In my experience, PTOs ran a range of activities, some purely to raise funds for other stuff, some as a mix of fundraising and fun, some serious and some just for fun. Even the last help to build the school community, making it better for the kids.
>>>>
>>>>Tamar
>>>
>>>Building the school community?
>>>If you mean involving meddlesome parents, I don't think that's such a good thing.
>>>I do know that kids whose parents pay attention to their school work do better than those without that support, but we don't need school communities for that.
>>>We need families with parents, first of all, and then we need attentive parents.
>>>We'll have to disagree on this.
>>>I see the PTO's as annoying meddlers without enough serious things to do.
>>
>>Well, I guess I've been on multiple sides of that issue, and my experience has been that PTOs make the school stronger. (My last message gave some specific examples.) Certainly, my mother, a long-time teacher (and an extremely well-regarded one) valued the support of both individual parents and the parent organization in her school.
>>
>>Yes, parents can overreach, though my experience has been that individual parents are more likely to do that than the formal parent organization.
>>
>>As you say, guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
>>
>>Tamar
>
>I think it depends on where you live.
>In NY, I think there was a better balance.
>We lived in highly motivated community and the parents - not the PTO- were all over the teachers and administrators to get their kids into top colleges.
>There is a lot less "community" in that area. School events are sparsely attended.
>School boards are generally composed of affluent, highly educated professionals who serve reluctantly for one term and leave.
>
>Here it's all about "community"
>A couple of years ago, thousands of people showed up for a high school football game between two rivals here in Hamilton.
>50 would be a lot on Long Island.
>School boards here are a really big deal. They are seen as stepping stones to political careers and the elections are hotly contested.
>Most of the PTO's here have some kind of agenda vis-a-vis the board and the meetings are generally rancorous.
>
>As you can probably tell, I think that the NY system works better, hence my view of PTO's.
>In my mother's case it worked and that's a good thing.

Maybe I've always lived in communities where most parents took the broad view that better schools for all kids mean better schools for their own. Certainly, it's the attitude of most of the people that I encountered in 17 years of volunteering for the local schools (including 2 as president of the HS PTO and 1 as president of the umbrella group for PTOs).

But I've heard of places where people compete to coach Little League, hoping to give their own kids an advantage. That's hard for me to imagine, too.

Tamar