..in admitting I'm sick of the PTA ?

[runningonthespot]

Yes every school needs them and I certainly do my bit to help out with a bit of time, a bit of home baking for fairs, and a bit of money etc BUT does anyone else have the experience that some of them - and I really don't mean all of them - are in it for the wrong reasons. Like getting favours for their kids or brownie points for being martyrs? Just a thought...

Totally agree with Soupy... The head at our school would never in a million years allow parents to have the ear of a teacher or get brownie points... and the kind and willing volunteers on my committee wouldn't dream of trying either!
If you go and join your PTA and have a say, you'll find it's just a group of women (and men) desperately trying to support the school, for the benefit of all....honestly!

andiem - if your child benefits, fine. But not all parents agree on the activities of the PA; therein lies the problem.

"what does it matter as long as your child benefits from what they do"

That in itself annoys me. I know you don't have to get invovled with pta/fundraising, but it bugs me when people either moan or refuse to get invovled yet happily allow their children to reap the benefits.

members of the PTA aren't elected, only the chair, deputy and treasurer at the AGM.
You couldn't have a bloody election, no-one wants to do it!

what do you mean Anna? if your child benefits... all children benefit from the equipment

Anna it may be quite different where you are, but over here the PTA actually have virtually no power, the ultimate decision is the heads and (certainly in our school) every parent/carer of a child at the school is automatically a member of the pta (wether they do anything is another matter) and so is entitled to have a say in thing.

anna I cannot think of a single thing that we have funded at school that the majority of the children haven't benefited from
garden inprovements
wet play equipment
theatre group visits

cov yes the whingers annoy me too but I would rather they just kept quiet and reaped the rewards than whinged about it on here
and yes we have a large group at school who whinge at me about everything but fail to do anything to help us

We recently held our school fete. All the whingers from DTS's class were there enjoying the fruits of PTA's labour but not one of them volunteered to man a stand, set up or do anything at all.

They should put up or shut up.

Our PA doesn't raise money for equipment, so no child can benefit from that kind of thing. Money raised goes to charities outside the school - schools in Africa, hospital beds for the parents of ill children etc.

Our PA mostly organises parties, end of year show etc and gets involved in issues to do with the running of the school. Recently the PA wanted to start a rota whereby parents go into the canteen and make children eat

I'm sick of the PTA too. And I'm on the PTA.

I went to a friend's house for supper the other night and ALL I talked about was the PTA. I woke up Sunday morning thinking "WTF have I become?". It takes over your life, and I feel well on the way to martyrdom.

I think your PA is very different fom the ones we are talking about anna everything we raise goes directly back to the school

hassled ikwym it is that time of year isn't it summer fete looming

we've got our summer funday coming up in a couple of weeks. we're having an it's a knockout competition with water and everything. The head has offered to be soaked by the kids.. we're having penalty shootouts, netball stuff all sorts of sports things, as well as all the usual bbq, bands etc...
I sent out volunteer leaflets more than a week ago...
Guess how many I've got...
Go on... guess

2? ingles
we are making our head who is ahem on the larger side ride the bucking bronco as the star attraction

3
3 bloody people have volunteered to help!!!!!!
out of a school with more than 300 children!

ingles I can feel your outrage

andiem - you've got it, Summer Fete . The invention of the devil himself.

What really got me was how self-righteous I was being - the host friends are the sort whose DCs reap the benefits but who will never sign up to help. Which has irritated me a bit, but I've never said anything before now because ultimately it's up to them. Saturday night I had some wine and I was off...

LOL Andie... What can you do?
I want Anna's PTA with several hundred people...

Ingles

That is disgraceful

I think you're right Fio...
Come to my PTA and you get weak tea and a sweaty choccy biscuit donated from the bottom of my handbag

...just to clarify, I'm certainly NOT anti volunteering or PTAs per se - in fact I've been going in and helping out in classrooms and on trips etc and even looked into joining the committee at one point. And I don't like those who do nothing at all - half the reason I volunteer is because if everyone thinks someone else will do it, no one will. My beef was really with the cliquey powertrip types.

I always get bugged by these sort of threads too.

You don?t have to help on the PTA, do you (most people don?t, let?s face it, at our school anyway; guess it?s different at a smaller school)? But if you don?t help, I don?t think you can complain about those who do give up their time.

I am on 2 PTAs, for my sins, and certainly am not aware of any favours to my children because of it

We are always very grateful for any offers of help and I certainly make it my business to personally thank anyone who I know has contributed or helped on the day.

Anna several hundred people voting in the PTA members! That?s certainly a bit different from how it runs at our school Your PTA sounds totally different from any in a UK school tbh.

Hassled ? maybe it?s time to step back? Seriously ? if you?ve done your bit for a year or so, tell it goodbye. A pal of mine has done that and it was a Good Idea.