From the PTO Treasurer

12/13/2024 7:10 am

How does the Dallin PTO Spend Money?

Recently Dallin students participated in two art projects to learn about different cultural traditions: a Rangoli sand art project to help children learn about Diwali and creating part of an ofrenda for Day of the Dead. These projects were proposed by Dallin parents, coordinated with the art teacher Stacie Greenland, and paid for through the Dallin PTO’s mini-grant program. The projects allowed students at Dallin to share their cultural traditions with their peers. They are a good example of the ways that PTO works together with parents and staff to enrich learning at Dallin School.

The PTO raises money with three goals: to provide student enrichment, to support the Dallin teaching staff, and to help strengthen the Dallin community. Here is how the PTO has spent some of our funds so far this year.

Student Enrichment

• The PTO pays for all field trips including bus transportation when necessary. The field trips are planned by the teaching staff, usually to supplement the curriculum.
• The PTO also works to bring enrichment into the school. The STEAM Team works hard to coordinate visits from groups like the Discovery Museum. This Fall, we have also had school-wide cultural enrichment with author visits from Jason Viola and Rob Buyea as well as the performance by the Irish music and dance troupe Tigh na Coille.

Teacher and Staff Support

The PTO’s budget supports staff across the school.

• The classroom teachers receive a stipend each year that they can spend to enrich their classroom. This includes things like classroom books, decorations, and office supplies—often things teachers might spend personal money on.
• Other staff members throughout the school also have a stipend: the specialists (library, art, music, P.E), the reading, math and special education teams, the social workers, nurse and custodian, etc.
• We also have funds for building and recess equipment. We provide money for the science garden and the Dallin grounds.
• This year, we also have budgeted funds to provide support to teachers as they launch the new EL curriculum across the school.

The PTO also provides teacher appreciation across the year.

• We provide meals for staff at the start of the school year, during evening parent/teacher conferences and at curriculum night.
• We celebrate teacher appreciation week in May and provide small tokens of appreciation throughout the year. For example, during the week before Thanksgiving, we brought a selection of pies in for the staff.
• For holiday and end-of-year gift giving, the PTO has funds for room representatives to use when purchasing gifts for teachers and staff.

Community

To support the community:

• We have funds to support events like Culture Night.
• This year, for the first time, we are hoping to fund community events planned by the room representatives at each grade level.
• We sponsor parent/caregiver gatherings (like the Winter Coffee held today!) and we have sponsored speakers come to talk about topics of interest to parents, such as new school/district initiatives, diverse books, or bullying.
• The PTO provides funds for the Dallin ASSIST Fund which helps families with personal financial challenges. The Dallin social workers coordinate this program and help provide things like gift cards at the holidays to families or books at the book fair for families that could use the support.

Funding Sources

The PTO’s funds to provide all of these services come primarily from our Annual Fund. The Annual Fund is ongoing, you can donate any time. We don’t have the kids selling anything or being put on the spot.  If you donate $50 per child, that funds your child’s field trips and gifts to the teacher from the class. If you donate more, you will be helping support all of these different programs. Some employers provide a corporate match to your personal Annual Fund donation, which is a great way to double your donation!

We also fundraise through our Auction, which is an event held every other school year. This year, we will be holding our Auction on April 11.  We will have a wide variety of items available to bid on, from summer camp to tree trimming services. While it is a fundraiser for the PTO, it is primarily a social event where you can come to enjoy the evening without bidding on any auction items. Stay tuned for more information about the Auction!

We supplement the Annual Fund and Auction with occasional events like shopping days where a business will share proceeds with the PTO. The annual book fair also raises money for the PTO.

The funding the PTO provides is only one part of our work. We need volunteers to plan and coordinate all of these activities. Behind every PTO purchase is a person behind the scenes ordering and delivering a meal for staff, planning enrichment with teachers, or coordinating a social event. Thank you for all of your support to the PTO!

If you are interested in more details, please contact us at dallinptotreasurer@gmail.com. You can also see the specifics on what we spent our money on last school year here.  We are looking for some more volunteers to help with managing our finances, so if this is something that interests you, please reach out!