With Other Organizations

The PTA often acts jointly with other organizations to achieve common goals. Such cooperative efforts are frequently in response to an invitation from another group, or they may be initiated by the PTA.

Cooperation may take many forms. It may be simply giving PTA members information about the aims, work, and services of another organization or a public agency. Or cooperation may involve communicating to the public the policies and work of public boards and commissions. A PTA might correlate its work on safety or health with that of a community safety council or health council to avoid duplication of effort and to gain the strength of a united endeavor.

Some of the official agencies with which the PTA cooperates are public, tax-supported government organizations established to serve the people, such as departments of health and education, public welfare commissions, children’s courts, recreation commissions, police and probation departments, and federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Education.

PTAs may also cooperate with professional organizations in education, health, social welfare, and related fields to undertake joint studies, surveys, or projects. These organizations can provide the PTA with specialized information based on research and can help with and advise on carrying out the PTA’s work for children’s well-being. The PTA can transmit information about children and their needs and problems from these organizations to the public.

The PTA considers the work done by many youth-serving organizations and groups to be of tremendous value and frequently cooperates with them. PTAs may work with and aid any group under the following guidelines:

1. The PTA assumes no obligation (expressly or otherwise), responsibility, or liability for the competence, actions, or omissions of any person or persons who may have been or may become active as a leader, participant, or otherwise in any organization or group sponsored by the PTA.

2. No PTA representative may commit the PTA to join any other group or agree to abide by any other group’s bylaws or policies.

3. At the community level, PTA cooperation is easier when there is an overall organization such as a coalition or council. Such groups enable agencies and organizations to work together on community problems. PTA should retain its own identity and should not be committed to courses of action outside its own field of operation.

4. When a PTA participates, it makes sure that the rules of procedure or bylaws of that organization do not conflict with its own bylaws and the bylaws of the state and National PTA. PTAs should withdraw from participation in the event of such conflicts.

These guidelines should not be interpreted as precluding a member of a PTA from belonging to any other organization, regardless of whether or not that organization’s bylaws or policies conflict with those of the PTA. However, PTA members should exercise caution to avoid leaving the impression that they are acting as representatives of the PTA.