Schools Depend on PTO Corps of Volunteers

It's hard to image what Warren schools would be like without the hundreds of PTO volunteers each school depends on: no hot lunches for students, no assemblies or field trips, fewer books in libraries.

All told, the thousands of dollars raised each year—and thousands of hours volunteered—are a crucial part of what makes Warren schools effective.

"It's a tremendous job (they do) and I don't think the school climate would be the same without it," Mt. Horeb School Principal William Kimmick said Thursday, during a special volunteer appreciation breakfast in the school's gym that followed the PTO's monthly meeting.

During the meeting, Mt Horeb PTO President Celeste Campos reviewed a list of programs the group has planned for the year—it took nearly 15 minutes to cover all the activities, fundraisers and projects the PTO has underway. There's a teacher appreciation breakfast coming up, and International Day and student dances to plan, a Book Fair, coupon books, ice cream socials and more.

From Woodland to ALT, each of Warren's schools counts on the PTO volunteers for similar projects. In the past, the PTOs have coordinated fundraising to purchase classroom Smartboards, and other major fundraising projects.

What drives this corps of volunteers?

"It's a great way to be involved in the schools and with the children," PTO member Bonnie Lavoie said. She added that she moved to Warren in September 2010, so this is the first full year she's been active in the PTO—and she's already established a number of friendships and connections with other parents.

Campos said her group of more than 120 active volunteers at Mt. Horeb raise about $45,000 annually for the school projects and supplies.

"We raise most of that with the directory sales, and we do raise money in the Food Days as well," she said.

"The PTO does an outstanding job of coordinating school programs," Kimmick said. "We couldn't run many of the programs without the PTO."

Athough Thursday's meeting ended with the "thank you" breakfast, few of the members satyed to partake—but then, you know the saying: if you want something done, assign it to a busy person.