Viva la PTA

I was supposed to have posted already, you know something pithy and on point about the PTA what with being an in-the-know president and all, but, truthfully, it’s beginning to make me all a bit ill… and this is why.  I’ll tell you I’ve pretty much always voted Democrat.  I’m always open to voting for a Republican, I just haven’t yet.  Years and years ago Rolling Stone Magazine had an article “Why I’m a Democrat/Why I’m a Republican” and, let me tell you, P.J. O’Rourke’s Republican argument was far more compelling and amusing and one hundred times less whiny.  Democrats do get whiny.  It’s what happens when earnestness goes a little off.  I will however, take whiny over the current constant Republican complaint of Obama and his elitism.  Besides, I’m a mother; I’m inured to whininess.

And yet, and yet I’m beginning to find the PTA perhaps a tad, well a little, you know, oh hang it, I’m beginning to find them elitist!

Our district has begun dispersing the literature to get us to sign up for the State PTA conference.  This year it is in Sacramento.  It is chock-o-block with nifty seminars and team building exercises.  That accomplished, there is then a great deal of voting for PTA positions and policies and bylaws etc. etc.  Fun stuff!  But here’s the thing: it is a three-day conference with all the incumbent costs of hotels and meals and transportation.  I know the schools in our district and I know which schools will have representatives and which will not, kind of in the same way you know which kids at your school go home and play with a Wii and which go home to hug their doll made of twigs and flour sacks.  And here’s the other thing:  whether or not you are a paid up member of the PTA you can only vote if you attend all three days of the conference.  Even if you were to drive in to attend one day of PTA didacticism, you would still not be eligible to vote.  That seems… erm, elitist!  At the very least it is a great disservice to those members who probably need their voices heard the most.

So I walked about grumbling and muttering about looking into PTOs- apparently in a PTO, if your offspring attend that school, presto jiminy you’re a member.  How very egalitarian.  And then, mid-grumbling, I got an email from California PTA which, in brief, stated that, after looking at the response to a statewide local leaders survey, they saw that “adequate school funding” was the most important issue to continue advocating for and they are embarking on a school finance lawsuit with no less than the State of California!  No member funds are being used for this.  I assume the PTA has friends in high places, and so I come back to my very conflicted thoughts on elitism.  Yes, I think unfortunately socio-economic standards and the success of a PTA go hand in hand and, yes, I think the PTA Conference is elitist but then again, am I really desperate to go?  No.  Am I desperate for some well-connected organization to give the State of California a good pants-kicking so our schools can provide arts education, and computers and software from this millennium, and toilets that flush and well stocked libraries?  Yes! Yes! Yes!  So PTA, you scratch my back and I’ll say viva la PTA!  Liberté- Egalité- Fraternité! Et peut-etre juste un soupçon d’élitisme.  And, yeah, I did just go all elitest and use French.

Photo by chelseagirl

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