Almost every school has a Parent-Teacher Association, commonly referred to as a PTA. However, there is often confusion surrounding the organization’s purpose and importance. At North Atlanta, this confusion was exemplified by the fact that there were two organizations that seemingly shared the same purpose – PTA and The North Atlanta Foundation. At NAHS, the PTA was in charge of arranging social events for teachers and students as well as helping to fund clubs. The Foundation served to raise and distribute funds to the school that APS was not able to provide. Even though they served two different objectives, members of the NAHS communities were often unable to distinguish the difference, and – for fear of supporting the wrong organization – they stayed largely uninvolved. As the problem grew, members of both organizations decided that it was finally time for a merger and presented the WarrFam Organization (WFO).
For such a seemingly simple decision, many were left wondering why the merger is happening now and not earlier. This move was actually more daunting than it initially appeared, as the PTA was part of a national organization that enacts certain parameters on their participants. For the WarrFam organization, this meant having to go through a long process of partitioning from the PTA that will be officially completed in the 2024-25 school year. Lani Preis, an involved parent, described just what this merger entailed. She explained when the PTA formally dissolves, Foundation IRS documents will officially switch to the WFO ones, representing one organization at last. “I think that this change is a very smart decision and will be able to positively help the school,” she said.
This merger has been able to bring in more money than ever for the school. Newly available funds have presented themselves in the form of specially designed mini-grants for teachers. These are small amounts of money allocated to teachers for everything from Kahoot accounts to club funding. In the past, there has been confusion on which organization did what, so donors were less likely to give due to worries about where their donations were actually going. This new organization was able to help streamline fundraising and directly benefit donors and the whole NAHS community. This is because, there is now one organization that parents and teachers can focus on giving to providing assurance that all donations will actually impact the school. Mary Claire Allvine, a parent involved with WarrFam, said “This change will definitely make me and the whole community more comfortable donating due to knowledge of where our donations are going.”
Not only will this change affect teachers, but also increase student and parent involvement. Due to the dissolution of membership fees, more parents can join the organization, which provides more human resources for the school. For students, the new organization is hoping to create a new leadership position for students outside of SGA who want to become more involved. They are still working on the specifics, but hope that this position will be available very soon. Jennifer Geckler, a member of WarrFam, said, “We are really excited to offer leadership and volunteer opportunities for students.”
As NAHS continues to grow in size, so do its needs. In order to keep North Atlanta running as orderly as it does, it was a logical solution to alter the PTSA and Foundation to be a more school-focused organization. The WFO will continue to ensure that the school excels as it expands.
