PTO makes big impact in classrooms

Posted: Feb. 14, 2011

After reorganizing the way it allocated its money, the Pewaukee PTO made some significant investments into its elementary and middle school classrooms.

Historically, the PTO, which serves the two elementary schools and Asa Clark Middle School, gave each teacher a check for anywhere between $45 and $75 at the beginning of a school year. Teachers used those funds to buy school supplies, stickers, bookmarks, and other items of that nature, but this year the PTO awarded 13 separate grants totaling more than $8,600 worth of spending on classrooms.

"We just didn't feel like we were making a big impact," said Pewaukee PTO president Brad Schlaikowski.

Thus the PTO decided to re-evaluate its spending.

"We as a board this summer said the board previous to us did an excellent job of establishing this organization, but what happened over the years is the schools kept coming to us and saying, 'can you do this, can you do that, can you do this.' Everyone just kept saying yes," Schlaikowski remarked. "Well this summer, we looked at all of our events and programs and said, 'What's our purpose?' We took out everything that wasn't in alignment with what we should be trying to accomplish."

Instead of handing each teacher a check, they asked them to submit a grant application and told them "the sky is the limit. Shoot for the moon."

The teachers filled out applications that explained how their request fit with the PTO's mission statement and how children would benefit from it. After winning approval from the school principals and the PTO Board, teachers had their rewards.

The smallest grant, $200, went for a classroom video camera. Almost $1,100 went to a team of first-grade teachers to purchase iPods and docking stations for their classrooms.

"If there's anything that I'm proud of with this district, it's the use of technology because now everything is at these children's fingertips, and now they're just making it easier," the PTO president said. "So instead of putting a cassette tape in with these big clunking earphones on, kids can listen to music or hear stories on tape on iPods."

Fifth-grade teachers collaborated and won a $300 grant to have an entertainer appear during the grade's overnight camp experience at Camp Whitcomb-Mason in the Town of Merton. Another received a document camera. The choir teacher at Asa Clark Middle School got more than $1,100 for new choir folders, while the middle school's physical education instructor got almost $1,000 for tennis equipment so students could take advantage of the new courts the School District is installing.

All told, the PTO allocated more than $8,600 to a combination of individual teachers or teams of teachers.