Non School Related PTAs

The mission/purpose of PTA for over 100 years has been: "To work for the health,
welfare, safety, education, care, and protection of children and youth in the home,
school, community, and place of worship."  The reason for PTA’s existence is much,
much broader than "education" and "school."   The Washington State PTA defines its
mission, quite simply, as: "Building a Better World for Children."

It is with this mission/purpose in mind that PTA must extend its work beyond education
and beyond the schoolhouse.  Parents, families, and communities must work for kids
everywhere.

The "traditional, school-based" PTA/PTSA does not and cannot always meet the needs of
all parents, families, and communities – and through them, to meet the needs of all children.
School-based PTAs often have agendas that are so full it is impossible for them to address
the requirements of kids, parents, and families with special needs. The activities of
non-traditional PTAs usually supplement, not replace school-based PTAs.

In every neighborhood, in every school, and in every community there are kids who have
special needs. Those needs may focus on a disability or an unusual gift or a language or a
culture or a geographic area or an environmental condition or something else. We can no
longer expect any organization to meet the needs of its constituency – to fulfill its mission –
by recycling the same programs in the same ways with the same attitudes. Today – to meet
the incredibly diverse needs of all children, PTA must be flexible and fluid in its programs,
projects, activities – and, in where / how / why it seeks to serve parents and families.

There are some who will be uncomfortable with this "non-traditional" approach. However…..

• Senior citizens want to help kids; therefore, the Washington State PTA has a
  senior citizens PTA, and is forming a 2^nd such unit.
• Parents and employers want to help kids; therefore, the Washington State PTA is
  looking at ways to create local units in places of business so parents (at work) and
  employers may cooperate and seek innovative and positive ways to contribute to
  "the world of children."
• Some parents do not speak English and, as a result, cannot be part of an English-
  speaking group; therefore, the Washington State PTA is looking at ways to embrace
  their need to participate in their children’s lives and have access, in meaningful and
  manageable ways, to the networking opportunities and resources that will serve them.
• There are parents who have kids in private and parochial schools that could form
  PTAs – even daycare centers; and, there is a pre-school PTA in the Washington
  State PTA.

What about parents who are currently incarcerated? Could PTA have a role –
through a prison-based PTA, perhaps – in meeting the specific needs of these parents to be
productive, involved, caring, and positive participants in their children’s lives?

Our focus should not be on the "adjective" in the name of the PTA, but on the "noun" – PTA
(or PTSA). PTAs and PTSAs are formed to "build a better world for children."

When the needs of children, parents, and families are not being met – there is a role for PTA.
The Washington State PTA believes that all children are valuable. But all children’s needs
cannot be met in only one way. If PTA is to be a powerful, viable, contributing, and positive
community asset as we move into the 21^st century, we must find new ways to deal with the
multiple issues which impact the well-being, success, and future of all children.

Working together with all the elements and stakeholders in our communities, we can "build
that better world for children."

For more information about current Non School Related PTAs in Washington State please click 
on your choice below.