Teenagers join school board
Before they approved a resolution proclaiming September as Voter Education Month, before they banned cyber-bullying, before they adopted a $308 million budget, the board for Spokane Public Schools last week swore in two teens to join them at the table.
Rogers senior Kayla Fenci and North Central senior Zachary Zappone are student advisers, meaning they don’t get a vote on business that comes before the board, but are encouraged to give their input.
Acronym of the week
What would Tom T. Hall have done if Harper Valley parents had formed a PTO or a PTG? Or a PTSO or PTSG? None of the rhymes would have worked in his country-crossover hit, “Harper Valley PTA.”
PTAs ruled in 1968, when Hall wrote his classic. But in 40 years, the National PTA has seen its membership drop by about half, while parent groups with those other initials have become common.
Who decides which is adopted by any given school? It’s up to the parent organizers. And while the distinction can be lost on parents who join later, there are important differences.
The National PTA is a century-old organization that has lobbyists who advocate on a number of issues – opposing the use of public money to help pay private-school tuition, for instance, and supporting universal health care coverage for children. Every local PTA is a member of that Chicago-based organization, and pays dues to it.
PTO is a generic term for a parent-teacher organization. They operate independently – sometimes because they don’t want to pay the dues to the National PTA and sometimes they disagree with its politics.
“There is a subtle but undeniable implication in PTA circles that those independent groups that aren’t part of the PTA are in some way choosing to abandon the cause of children,” states the Web site for PTO Today, a for-profit magazine.
As may be obvious, the P in each acronym stands for “parents” and if there’s an S it stands for “students. The Ts stand for “teacher” (or “teachers”).
But that other T – the one that’s Tom T. Hall’s middle initial? We’re told doesn’t stand for anything.
Number of the week
20 – The percentage of Washington residents who step inside a school building each day during the school year, according to state figures.