PTO Today, Inc. Contact:    
Craig Bystrynski
PTO Today, Inc.
800-644-3561 (x 205)
craigb@ptotoday.com

 

Wilson Arts Integration School PTA Recognized as

One of the Top Parent Groups in the U.S.

Oklahoma City parent group is named a winner for Outstanding Focus on Involvement in PTO Today’s Parent Group of the Year search.

Wrentham, MA – (September 15, 2006) – PTO Today, the only company dedicated to helping parent group leaders serve their schools more effectively, today announced that the Wilson Arts Integration School PTA was named winner of the Outstanding Focus on Involvement category of the PTO Today Parent Group of the Year search.

“The work that parent groups do is absolutely vital to the success of our schools and a child’s education. All too often that hard work goes unnoticed and unrecognized,” says Tim Sullivan, founder and president of PTO Today. “We celebrate and acknowledge the important work parent groups do in their schools and communities through the Parent Group of the Year award.”

The Wilson School PTA runs the school’s sports programs, an unusual undertaking for a parent group. The school’s 10 soccer and 10 baseball teams are all run by parents, as are the basketball teams. The PTA builds on the interest in the sports programs to get parents more connected to the academics and other activities at the school. The result is broad-based involvement that spans gender, ethnic, and socio-economic differences.

“Great parent groups create the kind of supportive school community where teachers and students alike can do their best work,” says Craig Bystrynski, PTO Today editor in chief. “That’s exactly what the Wilson parent group has done. It’s important work, too. Research shows that when parents get involved in their children’s education, good things happen: grades improve, test scores rise, discipline problems go down, and children are more likely to pass and further their education beyond high school. The Wilson PTA is working to make sure more parents get connected to the school and feel comfortable taking that active role. ”

The PTO Today Parent Group of the Year search, now in its sixth year, is sponsored by Educational Products Inc., and honors the parent groups that best represent the great work being done by parent groups throughout America.

The annual Parent Group of the Year search was founded to recognize the vital work that school parent group leaders contribute each year. With school budgets facing increasing funding cuts across the country, the contribution of school parent groups are more important than ever:

•     on average parent groups raise $22,700 per year per group

•     recent research clearly shows the correlation between active parent involvement and school success (ie. higher test scores, increased funding)

In addition to the outstanding focus on involvement category the Parent Group of the Year search

also recognizes parent groups in 10 other categories, including outstanding national parent group

and outstanding parent group at a private school.

PTO Today, Inc. is the only company dedicated exclusively to serving the entire parent group market with a full suite of products and services, all geared toward helping leaders serve their schools more effectively and run their groups more efficiently. PTO Today’s products and programs include PTO Manager, the web-based software solution for parent groups and the School Family Night programs, evening events for parent groups to build parent involvement and foster their school community. PTO Today’s flagship publication – PTO Today magazine is published six times a year. PTO Today magazine reaches parent leaders at more than 80,000 public and private elementary and middle schools across the country.

For more information on PTO Today, please visit us at ptotoday.com.

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