The PTO Needs You!

Yes, you. Yes, again.

Less than a year ago, the PTO bought two new refrigerators for the teachers’ lounges at Johnson. The old fridges were old and bad at their one and only job of keeping cold stuff cold. The news ones are great! We spent over $3,300 doing that. Since May, the PTO has written checks totaling more than $5,600 directly to Johnson teachers to reimburse them for classroom supplies that they bought out-of-pocket. We matched funds raised to buy a bounce house for the school—nearly another thousand dollars.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are the sorts of things we are able to do for our school when we raise the resources to help. Our goal is to bring in as much cash as possible, identify the best way we can spend that money to help the school, and then get the money moving quickly back into the school. It’s why we’re always asking for money.

Our wonderful and dedicated assistant principal, John Kronstain, has asked that we publicize the following Amazon Wishlists, in the hopes that local businesses or philanthropists that are in a position to help out have an easy means of doing so. Here they are:

Those lists are a way for people who are perhaps not directly a part of our school community to help us out. Great! If you work somewhere that might be looking for a way to get involved, please feel free to pass the links along to them.

Beyond that, there are currently two incredibly efficient ways for you to help us raise the money we need to continue to serve the school as best we can. First, you can buy some Johnson gear. We have a new supply of those sweet yellow tie-dyed Learning Leopards t-shirts available for purchase, along with some gray kids’ hoodie sweatshirts and adult-sized crew neck sweatshirts. Just send us a message by clicking below and we’ll be in touch about how we can take your money in exchange for some new Johnson shirts. Or a water bottle. Or a…car magnet. (We’ll probably just give you the car magnet.)

The other incredibly efficient way to help is to simply give us some money. The Change Challenge is right around the corner, and we’ll have restaurant nights and other fundraising opportunities to discuss in the near future, but for now we’re just passing the virtual collection basket. You can Venmo us by clicking below.

It’s not just your money that we’re after, though. We need your help. Your ideas. Your passion and your local connections and your thoughts. Last year the PTO helped push for the city to repair the sidewalk behind the school, and that got done over the summer. Last year we got the PTO-adjacent Leopard Laps program up and running, all thanks to the dedication of a single youth mobility enthusiast with a good idea. We threw the fourth graders a Sneaker Ball! We had a dance party with a DJ and free Kona Ice! That wasn’t just money—it was time and ideas and doing. Your time and words matter, and make a difference, just as much as your money does.

Come to the next PTO meeting at 6:00 p.m. on September 10 in the Johnson cafeteria! Maybe you can help us work with the school on a snacks and supply pantry with a decent inventory system, so that we know what specific needs aren’t being addressed, and help us make the begging for supplies thing feel less ad hoc and more systematic. Or help us talk through options for how we can get the school open for students starting at 7:30 a.m. again, because the push to 7:40 a.m. has been a hardship for some families here at the start of the school year. Or whatever else might be on your mind! The PTO can be a powerful tool of collective local action, but only if we know what action the parents and teachers of our community want us to take. Tell us!

Thanks as always for your time. See you around Johnson!