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Non-Traditional PTAs |
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Question: Why cant they all just be one PTA? Answer: One-size no longer fits all. While traditional school-based PTAs/PTSAs contribute a tremendous amount to their members and to children, some special needs and issues require new and unique solutions. If PTA is to serve all children, then it must be creative in finding and designing answers. As PTA has been deeply involved in education reform in this state, so too it must look at itself its structure, its way of dong business, its paradigms and make the necessary reforms/changes to be responsive to its environment and to enlarge is "sphere of influence." Question: Will non-traditional PTAs compete and take members from the local school PTA? Answer: Possibly. However, non-traditional PTAs serve special needs. Therefore, they should supplement, not replace, the traditional school-based PTA. Non-traditional PTAs/PTSAs would not, in all probability, be based in a school but would be regional, or multi-county, or community-wide. Thus, the members of non-traditional PTAs are likely to be among the many people who join multiple PTAs/PTSAs because they believe in and want to support the work of those units including the school-based PTA. However, the real answer to the question comes from the "value" the PTA provides to its members not what it calls itself, or the special need or issue it addresses. If you have questions regarding NonTraditonal PTAs in Washington State please contact the Washington State PTA office at 253-565-2153 or wapta@wastatepta.org. |