The St. Louis School Parent Teacher Organization, which is supported by the Diocesan PTO Council of Arlington, has a long standing tradition of active volunteerism and community building. All parents and guardians of students, all faculty members, the Principal, and the Pastor are members of the PTO. There are no membership fees.
PTO objectives are to promote the general welfare of the children in the school, at church, at home, and in the community; to assist parents and teachers in acquiring a deeper understanding of the mutual educational responsibilities of parents and teachers; and to bring into closer relationship the home and school so that parents and teachers may work together in the education of the child. Our enthusiastic parent volunteers provide much-needed services and financial support to the school by helping with school activities and fund-raising events.
Parents are expected to be actively involved in the PTO. Each family is expected to support the PTO by volunteering 25 hours of service*, raising a minimum of $500** through various fund-raising activities, or paying $250. A family may obtain credit by contributing a combination of the three options. Single-parent families are asked to contribute 12 service hours*, $300** in fund-raising, or $120.
Some of the ways in which parents can meet service hour requirements include PTO committee membership, fund-raising activities, volunteering at the school (clerical, classroom, library), assisting with receptions, chaperoning field trips, assisting with special school activities, and helping with Scouts and CYO sports.
St. Louis School has been blessed with generous and hard-working parents and students who have raised many thousands of dollars during the years. Here are just some of the items the PTO has purchased for the school:
- 26 new Dell computers and new printers for the school computer lab
- Activboards for grades 3 - 8, educational software for the school, and equipment for the school office and teachers work room.
- On-site computer and Activboard training for faculty.
- Microscopes for the upper hall science lab.
- Desks for all classrooms.
- Magnetic chalkboards for all classrooms.
- Yearly Subsidy for all classroom fieldtrips.
- Yearly stipend to the school library, resource room and PE program
- Financing of formal cultural arts program for students.
- Automation of the library card catalog.
- A large refrigerator for storing the children’s milk.
- Speakers for the classrooms.
- New maps and globes for all classrooms.
- Subsidy for school receptions, including eighth grade graduation.
- Assistance with the purchase of playground equipment for use by children during daily recreation.
* - Parents are billed for unfilled volunteer hours at the end of the year at a rate of $10/hour.
** - Fundraising dollars used in conjunction with Volunteer hours - to fulfill requirement - are valued at $20 fundraising = 1 volunteer hour