Hillcrest group breaks away from PTA

Parents at Shawano’s Hillcrest Primary School are now represented by a PTO rather than a PTA, and the difference goes much deeper than just one letter.

As a Parent-Teacher Organization, the group is aiming to save money by avoiding membership dues to the state or national Parent-Teacher Association networks.

Disassociating from the PTA, however, also means no longer having access to the organization’s state or national resources.

Leaders of the Hillcrest group converted to a PTO starting with the new school year as a way of keeping the group’s resources closer to home and doing more for local kids and their families.

“We wanted to be more fiscally responsible,” said Chelsea Gilling, president of the PTO.

As a PTA in previous years, the group collected $5.50 annually from each member. Of that, $3 went to the state PTA and $2 went to the national PTA, with just 50 cents staying in the community to support the organization’s activities directly benefiting Hillcrest.

Hillcrest has about 650 students in kindergarten through second grade. The parent-teacher group also represents students at the district’s LEADS Primary Charter School.

As an independent PTO, the group now collects $5 from each member, and the full amount stays with the organization locally.

“It better serves our students to keep our resources at a local level,” said Christie Schultz Wegner, another member of the PTO.

Membership currently numbers 55 parents and teachers.

The parent-teacher group has sponsored a yearly fall festival, organized a book fair, supported field trips, hosted teacher appreciation events and supported other initiatives such as playground improvements.

Michael Anton, president of the Wisconsin PTA, said the Madison-based network includes about 200 chapters with 13,000 members statewide. Individual chapters and members have access to state and national connections, as well as information, training and sponsorship benefits, he said.

Anton said chapters occasionally break away to save money, but many end up returning to PTA because they find it worthwhile to be part of a larger effort.

“We have so many resources that are available,” he said. “It’s a whole networking type of organization.”

Hillcrest PTO leaders said they weighed the pros and cons, and determined that breaking away from PTA was the best avenue for maximizing their impact on students locally.

Parents also were surveyed on the change during the summer months.

“We felt that the dollars we were sending to the national and state PTA,” Gilling said, “could have been used in a more responsible way to benefit the children.”

Hillcrest Principal Troy Edwards said he discussed the change with PTO leaders, and he supported the change.

“Our PTO members are an active, hard-working group of parents,” Edwards said. “We are lucky to have them be a part of our school.”