Why should a PTA/PTSA involve students?

What can students contribute besides provide membership numbers?

Can students really handle the responsibility of membership?

These are just a few of the questions adult members of local units ask when considering involving students in a PTA/PTSA.

Students can provide excitement, enthusiasm, energy, ideas and "manpower" for those projects where parent volunteers are shorthanded or short on time. By offering students leadership opportunities, you unlock a very dynamic and positive force.

The following is a list of good reasons for involving students in a PTA:

To put the Objects of the PTA into action.

To provide a new prospective on your PTA’s ideas and programs.

To give students an opportunity to participate in the planning and execution of PTA programs; young people’s viewpoints and ideas are essential because all PTA programs focus on youth.

To give students a better understanding of adults and adults a better understanding of students, thereby bridging the generation gap.

To teach students useful leadership skills such as public speaking, decision making, project and program planning and conflict resolution.

Research shows that parent involvement begins to decline at the on set of pre-teen and adolescent years. To maintain strong involvement in their children’s lives, parents should:

Keep the lines of communication open and supply teenagers with honest and accurate information about the many issues teens face. Encourage important discussions – about smoking, drugs, sex, drinking – even if the topics are difficult or embarrassing. Don’t wait for teens to come to you.

Set fair and consistent rules that help children learn that with their new independence comes responsibility.

Support their futures. Even if parents don’t feel that they can help with homework, they need to demonstrate that education is important to them and their children’s futures. It is important to know children’s teachers and counselors and to create a home environment that supports learning.

Be an example by demonstrating appropriate behaviors. Show concern for and be involved in the community and at school. Maintain regularly scheduled family time, whether it is having dinner together every night or attending movies, sporting events or museum exhibits together.

The above was excerpted from the National PTA Middle School/High School Parent Involvement Kit, which is available online at www.pta.org

Interested in organizing a PTSA? Contact info@vapta.org for more information

Secondary PTA Committee Chair:
2ndarypta@vapta.org