$5,932,448.50: WOW!

I am looking at a gift “check” provided to my office by the PTA, for $5,932,448.50. It’s a staggering figure. And honestly, the value is actually far higher.

The symbolic check reflects the 283,307 hours of volunteer service provided by PTA members to schools at 64 sites countywide during the 2008-09 school year, pegged at the U.S. Department of Labor’s rate delineated for volunteers. It does not include a single penny of all the fund-raising that PTA member conduct on top of that figure.

If schools had to compensate for the volunteer PTA services, they might actually have had to pay an even higher amount, so we have to consider $5.9 million the very minimum in terms of true dollar value.

But value goes beyond dollars. The kind of support that PTA members provide is very hard to quantify because it reflects the type of quality interaction with students that can grow in geometric proportion. It is the one-on-one attention to a child in need. It is the extra hand that enables a project to reach completion. It is the paperwork or copying or filing that frees a teacher to provide critical support to a student who is struggling. It is the extra set of hands and eyes that enables an important education field trip to take place, supplementing classroom learning in ways that ripple into a wide array of academic areas.

It also includes all the work by members of the executive boards and committee members who put on fundraisers and special programs, as well as the BBQ teams, the dance decorating committees, graduation night teams, and the Reflections Arts Program.

What’s really remarkable is that PTA members have been doing this support work for more than 112 years. It was before the turn of the last century that parents recognized the absolutely critical role they could play if they banded together with their children’s teachers for the common good. And look how that good has grown.

PTA members have my unending admiration and gratitude for their important work. Our schools simply would not be nearly as effective without the PTA as a partner.

Parents everywhere have the same concerns: What can I do to make sure my child has the best chance to get the most out of school? At the very least, we hope all parents will make sure that students come to school ready to learn: they are well nourished, well rested, they've done their assignments, and they understand it is their responsibility to follow school rules and respect their teachers.

It takes active parental involvement to make that happen. And here's the most important point: If parents do only that, they have really done enough. But many parents want to do more. PTA members are active over-achievers on this score. They make a difference every day, to their children, their classrooms, and to their schools.

I congratulate the PTA for more than a century of hard work on important issues that make the world better for our children. For this past year alone, the entire community is humbled by the $5.9 million in volunteer services that helped our schools in such challenging times.

Saying “thank you” seems inadequate to the task, but thank you we do. I believe that the work of the PTA is valuable in ways that cannot be measured, but this “check” for $5,932,448.50 represents one form of measurement that is tangible beyond dispute. The entire community is grateful.