Connecting and Supporting Parent Organizations in NYC Public Schools

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    • Parent Leadership
      • DOE Leadership Structures
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    • Running a PA/PTA
      • PA/PTA Overview
      • Bylaws, Chancellor's Regulations, and other Laws
      • Executive Board: Officers, Elections, and Transition
      • Working with the School Administration & DOE
      • Parent Members: Committees, Volunteerism, and Advocacy
      • Financial Affairs
      • Communication and Meetings
      • Not-for-Profit & Tax Exempt Status
    • Planning Events
      • Community Building
      • Curriculum Based/Classroom
      • Philanthropy
      • School Gardens
      • Health and Wellness
      • Parent Education
      • Arts Enrichment
      • College and Career Readiness
    • Fundraising
      • Sales & Product Fundraisers
      • Grants
      • Auctions & Galas
      • Online Campaigns
      • Earning through Shopping
      • Flea/City Markets
      • Participatory Budgeting
      • Donation Requests
      • Raffles
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    32 results:

    Category

    Running a PA/PTA

    Each public school in NYC is required to have a PA/PTA, a parent-led organization. PA/PTAs are made up of an executive board, general members, and committees. They are governed by multiple regulations...

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    Earning through Shopping

    There are a number of ways that your PA/PTA can earn money through parents' regular shopping. Giving through shopping is free and generally easy—just register your PA/PTA and spread the word to your s...

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    Parent Leadership

    Anyone with a child in a NYC public school -- parents, foster parents, guardians, step-parents, persons in parental relation -- can be a parent leader. Parent leaders: volunteer in schools (not just i...

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    Donation Requests

    PA/PTAs often raise money through direct asks -- the Annual or Direct Appeal is, for many, the largest fundraising event of the year, while others rely on dues. Matching Gift programs allow parents to...

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    Raffles

    Chancellor’s Regulation A-660 (CR A-660) allows PA/PTAs that have been in existence for at least three years to hold raffles for fundraising purposes. A PA/PTA or Presidents’ Council in existence for ...

    Category

    Parent Members: Committees, Volunteerism, and Advocacy

    While the executive board serves as the PA/PTA's administration, all parents make up the PA/PTA and are responsible for its success. Parents can support their schools by joining committees; volunteeri...

    Category

    Bylaws, Chancellor's Regulations, and other Laws

    Each New York City public school PA/PTA must comply with the NYC Department of Education (DOE) Chancellor's Regulations as well as its own bylaws. If your PA/PTA is incorporated as a not-for-profit in...

    Category

    College and Career Readiness

    PA/PTAs can provide parents and students with programs and access to information for life outside of school. Some hold weekend events that showcase camps and other opportunities for summer enrichment....

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    Not-for-Profit & Tax Exempt Status

    Generally, it is useful for PA/PTAs to incorporate as not-for-profit organizations and obtain tax exempt status, but doing so might not be necessary for every NYC public school PA/PTA. This section is...

    Category

    Communication and Meetings

    To a large extent, PA/PTA affairs are managed through a combination of meetings of the general membership, executive board meetings, and committee meetings. CR A-660 allows general membership and exec...

    Category

    Working with the School Administration & DOE

    While PA/PTAs are self-governing organizations, they are required to work with the school administration and certain DOE offices in a number instances per the CR A-660. Apart from compliance with the ...

    Category

    Financial Affairs

    A PA/PTA’s funds are separate and independent from those of the school, and PA/PTAs are responsible for their own financial affairs. Managing these affairs is the responsibility of the executive board...

    Category

    PA/PTA Overview

    A Parent Association (PA) or Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is the official organization of the parent body in a school. Every New York City public school is required by the New York State Education...

    Category

    Executive Board: Officers, Elections, and Transition

    The executive board is your PA/PTA’s administration — it runs your PA/PTA. It should function also as a representative of the entire parent body, which is important to keep in mind when defining its c...

    Category

    Arts Enrichment

    While budget cuts have thwarted many schools' ability to provide arts programs in schools, many PA/PTAs are helping bring arts enrichment to the students, either through grants or funds they have rais...

    Category

    Online Campaigns

    PA/PTAs, student groups, and teachers turn to the internet for a variety of fundraising activities — from benefit auctions to crowdfunding for classroom projects. Crowdfunding, which allows groups to ...

    Category

    Planning Events

    PA/PTAs can enrich their schools by running a wide variety of programs, activities, and events for students, parents, and the school community. For example, PA/PTAs can: plan community-building cele...

    Category

    Flea/City Markets

    The Department of Education allows PA/PTAs to run flea markets and City markets on school property in order to raise money for the schools. For schools with appropriate space, markets can be significa...

    Category

    Auctions & Galas

    For many schools, the auction is the year’s biggest fundraiser. It is often turned into a gala, an adult-night-out which includes dinner, a dance party, and live and/or silent auctions. These events r...

    Category

    Grants

    Grants can be a significant source of funding for PA/PTAs, particularly for special projects or certain programs. They require a plan for how the funds will be spent, and someone to put that and other...

    Category

    Sales & Product Fundraisers

    While fundraising often is thought of in terms of donations of money, many PA/PTAs hold sales – also called product fundraisers – to raise money....

    Category

    Parent Education

    Parent education can take many forms, depending on the needs of your families. Some PA/PTAs host workshops on topics such as internet safety, bullying, and issues related to raising teens. Others focu...

    Category

    Health and Wellness

    Over the years, many PA/PTAs have started programs to support healthy living. They hold run curricula-based wellness program, organize health and fitness events, and become involved with the food offe...

    Category

    School Gardens

    Some PA/PTAs have built school gardens to help improve school lunches, advance environmental literacy, bring children outside, provide green space at urban schools, and introduce young people to fresh...

    Category

    Philanthropy

    Activities and events designed to provide resources to individuals and communities in need can also can educate students about social issues and help bring the school community together. Although CR A...

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    Curriculum Based/Classroom

    Curriculum based activities and events can spur students' interest in particular areas of the school’s curriculum, help familiarize families with different aspects of it, and provide an opportunity fo...

    Category

    Community Building

    Community building is for PA/PTAs, whose function, in part, is to make families feel welcome and comfortable in their children’s schools. Additionally, the more unified the parent body, the better it ...

    Category

    Parent Advocacy

    Parent organizations are excellent vehicles to support parent advocacy. For example, PA/PTAs in some NYC public schools play a significant role in helping parents advocate for mandated and needed prog...

    Category

    DOE Leadership Structures

    Opportunities for parent leadership and advocacy exist within the NYC school system at the school, district, and citywide levels. These opportunities are meant to grant parents meaningful roles as par...

    Category

    Fundraising

    PA/PTAs are allowed to fundraise in order to enrich students' education -including for classroom materials, school-wide improvements, enrichment activities, after-school programs, and other student ne...

    Category

    Participatory Budgeting

    Participatory Budgeting is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. In NYC Council Members choose to join Participatory Budgeting in New Yo...

    Articles

    PA/PTAs

    A Parent Association (PA) or Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is the official organization of the parent body in a school. Every New York City public school is required by the State Education Law and ...

    Articles

    Language Justice

    Under New York State law, all English Language Learners (ELLs) have a right to the resources, services, and support they need to be able to achieve the same educational goals and meet the same standar...

    Articles

    Organizing for Integrated Classrooms

    While New York City has been famously criticized for having one of the most racially segregated school systems in the country, P.S. 9, The Sarah Garnet School, in District 13, demonstrated what is pos...

    Articles

    Restorative Justice

    Black and Latinx students have long suffered harsher disciplinary actions in schools than their white peers, fueling the school-to-prison pipeline. Many schools are taking steps to curtail these well-...

    Articles

    Access to Physical Activity

    It is now undeniable that physical education (PE) is an essential part of student's academic experience. Exercise and wellness education have positive effects on children’s behavior and can help culti...

    Articles

    Donate

    Your contribution will make it possible for us to expand the website and the services we provide to New York City public school parent organizations. PTAlink is a project of New York Appleseed, Inc. a...

    Articles

    Legislative Breakfast - P.S. 217K

    Inviting a politician to meet with you outside of his/her office is a great way to guarantee that you have his/her full, undivided attention. Inviting a group of politicians is even better. For the pa...

    Articles

    Marta Torres - District 16

    Where did you grow up and what schools did you attend? I grew up in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and went to District 16 public schools. I attended PS 26, where my mom was PTA president when I was a c...

    Articles

    Standardized Testing

    Each spring, public school students in 3rd through 8th grade take state tests in English and math; 4th and 8th graders take a science test as well. These tests were introduced in the mid-2000s in orde...

    Articles

    SLT FAQs

    Roles and Responsibilities of SLT Members What are the responsibilities of members of a school’s SLT? Mandatory members of the SLT include: The school principal, PA/PTA president or designated PA/PTA ...

    Articles

    Article: What Are the Issues Surrounding Testing?

    The annual state tests for elementary and middle school students have been a volatile subject among parents and teachers for at least a decade. Some parents have joined the “opt-out” movement while ot...

    Articles

    Is Your School Renovation Safe?

    In 2012, we were excited when we heard that the City was going to repair leaks in P.S. 29’s roof and walls and get rid of mold in our classrooms. We also had questions about how to protect our kids’ h...

    Articles

    Desegregation/Integration

    New York City’s school system continues to be one of the most segregated in the country. To address the harmful consequences of school segregation, many students, families, educators, and other commun...

    Articles

    Resource Equity

    A large majority (more than 70%) of NYC public school students live in poverty. As a school system, adequate resources in schools in NYC are extremely important and often require advocacy by families,...

    Articles

    School Food

    In many neighborhoods across the city, parents have organized to improve the meals served in their schools’ cafeterias. Often, parents form a PA/PTA committee, decide on their priorities, and then wor...

    Articles

    Special Education Supportive Services

    Parent groups can play important roles in supporting students with disabilities by providing families with the information they need to advocate for their children’s educational rights. PAs/PTAs can c...

    Articles

    School Leadership Teams (SLTs)

    All schools are required to have a form of school-based management called a School Leadership Team, or SLT (New York State Education Law Section 2590-h). Administrators, teachers, and parents comprise...

    Articles

    Environmental Safety

    When families discover potential environmental threats to their children’s health in public school buildings, PA/PTAs can step in and advocate for safe renovation procedures. After learning that its s...

    Organizations

    New York State PTA

    The New York State PTA is a not-for-profit organziation that serves as a branch of National PTA. For more than 115 years, New York State PTA has been focused on three primary objectives: parent educat...

    Resources

    Campaign for Educational Equity’s Know Your Rights: English Language Learner Resource Requirements

    The Campaign for Educational Equity, a nonprofit research and policy center at Teachers College, Columbia University, published a pamphlet, available in English and Spanish, describing the rights of E...

    Organizations

    Sinergia

    Sinergia provides information, training and one-to-one support to NYC families of children with disabilities, and professionals who work with them to help parents understand the special education syst...

    Organizations

    Parents for Inclusive Education (PIE)

    PIE is a parent-led group of educational reformers that works to ensure that all students with disabilities in the NYC public schools have access to meaningful inclusive educational and community oppo...

    Organizations

    INCLUDEnyc

    INCLUDEnyc serves families of children and young adults in NYC with disabilities. Through individual advocacy, specialized trainings and community awareness events, it supports families developing the...

    Organizations

    Advocates for Children of New York (AFC)

    AFC’s mission is to promote access to the best education New York can provide for all students, especially students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. It provides students and their fa...

    Organizations

    Test Partner One

    This is a description of Test Partner One

    Articles

    Panel for Educational Policy (PEP)

    The Panel for Educational Policy, or PEP, allows for parent involvement on a citywide level. Responsible for some of the most significant decisions affecting the education system, the panel votes on t...

    Articles

    Citywide Education Councils

    There are four Citywide Education Councils: Citywide Council on High Schools, Citywide Council on Special Education, District 75 Council, and Citywide Council on English Language Learners. These Counc...

    Articles

    Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council (CPAC)

    The Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council (CPAC) provides a way for parents to be involved in citywide education policy. It is an organization made up of the presidents of each Presidents’ Council in t...

    Articles

    District Leadership Teams (DLTs)

    District Leadership Teams (DLTs) present an opportunity for parent involvement in NYC public education, but parent representation is limited to parents who have already been selected to serve in other...

    Articles

    Community Education Councils (CECs)

    Community Education Councils, or CECs, allow for parent involvement on a district-wide level. Responsible for approving school zoning lines and hold hearings on capital plans, they also function as ad...

    Articles

    Presidents’ Councils

    Presidents' Councils are made up of the presidents (or their designated representatives) of each of the PA/PTAs within a given jurisdiction and are intended to support their constituent PA/PTAs. Chanc...

    Articles

    Supportive Services for Immigrant Students

    Due to the recent roll out of policies by the current Trump administration our fellow community members who identify as asylum seekers and/or immigrants are facing a vast landscape of conflicting info...
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