What exactly is Fairbanks Elementary PTO? Well, PTO stands for Parent Teacher Organization, but what does that really mean for Fairbanks Elementary and you?

Some may cringe at the mere mention of PTO. Most are so busy that they always mean to come to a meeting or volunteer, but life and work are enough, let alone adding on volunteering! The PTO might be that table you avoid making eye contact with at back-to-school events because you can't possibly buy one more thing or know what your schedule will be to offer to volunteer.

As the FES PTO board, we want to let you know that we get it. We felt the same way at various points in our kid's tenure at Fairbanks Elementary. As a parent to a student at Fairbanks Elementary, you are already a member of the Fairbanks Elementary PTO. You can choose how much or how little you are involved because we know that can change year to year, or even month to month.

You can choose to attend our monthly meetings in person, or remotely on the third Tuesday of each month. We want you to know, we get how busy today's parents are. Sometimes we don't want to get a sitter or figure out how we can get to a meeting that is back at the school. So we want to make it easy, if you want to put in the effort to see what we are doing, we want to make it as easy as possible to find out. All of our meetings (unless noted) will be in person and remote and you can see what fits your lifestyle and schedule each month.

If you are a parent who just does not have time to attend meetings and even have a clue what your schedule looks like in advance to volunteer, thats fine too!

As a parent, how can you help serve the students at Fairbanks Elementary? That is totally up to you! We have our 2024-2025 calendar of events you can join us for! These events are posted on our website, on the announcements, and on hand-outs before events. You can choose to donate items when they are needed, volunteer to chair an event, participate however it is needed for an event, just physically come to an event with your family, donate money to our Give Butter campaigns or have your business sponsor an event. You name it, we are open to how you can help.

What do we do exactly or what is the point of the PTO?

• Develops activities that promote fun and beneficial events for the Elementary school

• Helps communicate important school and community information to families

• Raises money to support specific needs or wants for the school (such as field trips, interactive activities, field day, etc.)

• Support teachers and staff members who dedicate their days to our children

If you have any questions or want to see what opportunities to help the students of Fairbanks Elementary, please feel free to reach out to us.