Parent Organizations Summary

Parent Involvement | Get Involved | Parent Organizations

PTA
PTA stands for Parent Teacher Association. The mission of the PTA is to make every child’s potential a reality.

What do they do?
PTAs serve as a type of forum where parents, teachers, administrators, and other concerned adults discuss ways to promote quality education, strive to expand the arts, encourage community involvement, and work for a healthy environment and safe neighborhoods.

The purpose of the PTA is to be a:

Powerful voice for all children.
Relevant resource for families and communities.
Strong advocate for the education and well-being of every child.

How can parents get involved in the PTA?

Join the PTA.
Attend MEETINGS.
Volunteer to support PTA activities and projects.

Why is it important for parents of students of all ages to get involved with the PTA?

Regular updates on school activities and policies.
Access to teachers and administrators at your child's school.
Access to parents of other children at the school.
A forum to discuss concerns and problems at school.
If the problem needs attention from the state or national government, any local, district, or state PTA can bring the issue to the attention of the National PTA.
Access to resources on parenting, education, and more from the National PTA.
Appreciation from teachers for all your help.
Education about school policies, state funding, and other issues concerning your school.

View list of schools with PTA's or PTSA's in Broward County >>

For more information please visit the PTA Web site.

PTO's
Some schools have an independent Parent Teacher Organization which functions to support individual schools and their school improvement efforts. These organizations are independent and work within a particular school setting. To find out if your child’s school has a PTO, or to get involved in the PTO, contact your local school.

School Advisory Forum
The School Advisory Forum (SAF) is open to all members of the school and community. The Forum has one member to report to the School Advisory Council, which then sends a representative to the district SAC. The district SAC acts as advisors, mentors, and advocates to both the district and to each school advisory council. At a School Advisory Forum all present will:

Plan, develop, and implement parent/community programs and training activities.
Address parent/community concerns; work with administration to solve problems and initiate desired changes.
Identify and coordinates the use of community resources to improve student achievement and school effectiveness.
Participate in increasing/sustaining high levels of community support for the school.
Assist SAC in identifying the educational needs and priorities of the school.
Participate in the preparation of the budget, and review budget related concerns.
Advocated for positive change in the school.
Remain current with school, district, state, and national issues.
Jointly works with School Board Members, Superintendent, and local Government officials.

Facilities, Safety, Legislative, ESE, ESOL, Boundaries, Curriculum, Dress code, and Transportation are all issues addressed by SAF.

What can be accomplished if I participate in SAF?
Over the years, it has been parents, teachers, community members, etc. who have made positive changes in schools. These changes can be at the school level, district level, state level and within the community or city. From the school level, parents like you made the following changes:

Instead of having social security number to identify children, the schools now use a new randomly generated number to prevent identify theft and other privacy issues.
Defibrillators are now at every high school. A defibrillator is a machine used to shock the victim's heart and restore the heart's normal rythmic patterns. When a defibrillator is used, it in effect kicks the heart into action again, causing it to resume sending blood throughout the body. This was needed specifically due to incidents during athletic activities.
It is now mandated that recess must not be used as punishment and all elementary students are entitled to 15 minutes of recess.
Currently, SAF was brought the idea to make lunch account information available online.

The District Advisory Council advocates and promotes the highest quality of public education for students within our schools, areas, district and state by sustaining an effective network of parents, students, business, government, school, district staff and the community. Get involved with your school’s School Advisory. To find out more about the District Advisory Council, visit their website.

School Advisory Council
The School Advisory Council (SAC) is a team of people representing various segments of the community–parents, teachers, students, administrators, support staff, business/ industry people and other interested community members.

What do they do?
SAC member gather to discuss the school’s academic plan and progress. They discuss the School Improvement Plan (a plan made of goals and objectives established for the school determined by needs. The purpose of the School Improvement Plan is to increase student performance). The SAC committee assists the school principal with budget and recommendation on how school monies are spent or allocated.

How can parents get involved and participate in the SAC committee?
Parents are encouraged to attend the monthly meeting of the SAC committee at their child’s school
Why is it important for parents to be active participants?
The SAC committee provides a place where parents can voice their opinions and suggestions. They have an active role in making decisions that will best serve the students.
SAC also gives the opportunity for parents to actively participate in setting goals and making plans to achieve those academic goals
SAC allows for parents to identify issues that need to be addressed concerning the school climate.
Understanding the SAC Committee Lingo

District Advisory Council
The District Advisory Council (DAC) is a group that meets monthly to identify issues and makes recommendations for addressing those issues. DAC includes representatives from the four area advisory councils (North, North Central, South, South Central). DAC works with the Superintendent to communicate needs and resolve concerns of the families served by Broward County Public Schools. The four area advisory councils include parent and principal representatives from each area school, area office staff, and community members. The area advisories work in collaboration with the area superintendents to identify issues and make recommendations for addressing those issues through DAC.

What does the DAC do? The primary objective of the District Advisory Council is to review and address the educational needs of the Broward County School System so that those needs can be included in the District's Strategic Plan. More specifically, DAC:

Assists the School Board and the Superintendent of Schools in the identification and assessment of the needs of the Broward County School system.
Fosters and promotes communication among School Advisory Forums, School Advisory Councils, Area Advisory Councils, the District Advisory Council, the Superintendent of Broward County Schools, and the Broward County School Board.
The District Advisory Council acts as a forum for Area Advisory Councils and others to propose recommendations and discuss issues that are relevant to the District. DAC bring these recommendations to the School Board and Superintendent of Schools.
Promotes and encourages parent and community involvement in the schools.
For more information please visit the DAC site.

Volunteering

What is the purpose of volunteering?
Whether you are a student seeking community service opportunities, a parent or grandparent seeking to become more involved in the education of your children or grandchildren, a retired or senior citizen seeking an outlet for your talents, experiences, and skills, or a corporation wishing to give your employees greater opportunity to be involved in their community the Volunteer Services program has the answer to your needs.

What do SBBC Volunteers do?
As a volunteer, you can choose what you do. You can read with children, go on field trips, talk about careers, assist with band or sports activities, tell children about famous artists, strengthen math skills or help in other ways that your school needs. You make the choice!

Volunteering for the greater good
Volunteer for the school – not your child! While we know you want to be close to your child at school, the idea of volunteering is to provide services to the school as a whole.

Why should volunteerI?
Getting involved in the school pays off for you, your child and every student at the school. By volunteering to help, your service makes a difference. The more parents - and community members - volunteer their time to help the school, the greater the impact. Classroom teachers can add learning activities, the school can offer more programs, and students can get extra help because of active school volunteers.

What is the process for becoming a volunteer?
The first step to becoming a volunteer is to fill out a volunteer application. The form is online and you will need your driver's license, passport or state ID. After you finish your volunteer application, it will be reviewed. In one week, you can contact the school to learn about volunteer opportunities and training. Become a volunteer – Visit Volunteer Services for more information.

Become a Mentor

Why should I become a mentor?
At a time when school districts are faced with mounting costs and funding shortfalls it is important that the needs of the students are not shortchanged. Individuals, businesses and organizations often look for ways to support schools that are immediate and measurable. Investing in the future of our youth by becoming a mentor to students who need the guidance of caring adults is a wonderful way to get involved.

Youth who are paired with mentors have the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skill including, goal setting; effective problem solving; practical living skills; respect for others; communication and leadership skills and an appreciation for gender, age and cultural diversity.

What do SBBC Mentors do?
There are a variety of mentoring options available. Mentors are asked to make a commitment to meet with mentees for one hour a week throughout the school year. For busy executives whose schedules may prevent this level of commitment, we encourage the identification of a co-mentor who can arrange to fill in if the primary mentor is unavailable. While one-on-one mentoring is the most effective model, some schools provide the option of creating a group mentoring program where one or several individuals arrange to meet with a group of students regularly to talk about topics of interest. For information on how to become a mentor visit Youth Mentoring.

ESE Advisory Council
The primary objective of the ESE Advisory Council shall be to inquire, inform, recommend and provide input on the effectiveness of educational programs and services for students with exceptionalities. Visit the ESE Advisory Council for more information.

Gifted Advisory
For parents of children who are gifted. Attend meetings to discuss programs, questions and answers, staying involved, etc. View the Gifted Advisory Flyer for more information.

ESOL Leadership Council
The ESOL Leadership Council is a district wide forum for English Language Learners (ELL) parents and interested community members to assist the District in identifying the educational needs and priorities of ELL students. Any persons interested may attend these meetings that also highlight the programs and services for ESOL students. Visit the ESOL Leadership Council for more information.

Head Start Policy Council
The Head Start Programs provide shared governance with the School Board and the Policy Council through which parents can participate in policy making or in other decisions about the program. Visit Head Start for more information.

Title 1 Parent Program
The Title I program for parents is designed to:

Inform parents about Title I regulations.
Involve parents in local Title I decisions.
Provide literacy training.
Offer parents training in schools and the community on ways to work with their children at home to raise student achievement.

Title I Executive Parent Advisory Council - A group of parents elected by parents for the three area Parent Training Academies to work closely with the Title I Director and designated Title I staff to assist with the development, implementation, and evaluation of schoolwide programs. Click on TITLE 1 for more information.

School Level Parent Training - One public meeting per school is required. In addition, many schools provide MegaSkills workshops and several offer the "I Care" positive parenting and mentoring program.

District Level Parent Training - MegaSkills training at homeless family shelters and other community sites is provided. Community liaisons also provide training on how to help parents assist their children with academic skills at home. District staff provides Title I Parent Training Academy workshops for parent representatives from each Title I school. In addition, computer literacy classes are offered every six weeks at the Center for Parent Involvement.

Parent Involvement Seminar - The Parent Involvement Seminar is held annually on the last Saturday of January. A motivational speaker, consultants and trainers provide workshop sessions on a variety of topics and issues developed around a general seminar theme.