LOCAL PTA COUNCIL DISSOLVED STATE LEADER SAYS OFFICE UNDERSTAFFED,

Spokane PTA Council leaders feel bruised and confused after being dissolved recently by the state level of the parent-teacher group.

Miki Tillett, president of the council that served 10 school-based PTAs in Spokane, cleaned out her office at the old Libby Middle School this week.

She asked why she didn't get more time to solve the council's problems.

"We had a pretty rocky year, but we were starting to come above the water," she said.

State PTA President Barbara Webb of Spanaway, Wash., said the Spokane council had been dying for years, causing the state board to take the rare step of withdrawing its charter at a meeting two weeks ago.

Spokane's school-based PTA groups, called local units, had complained that the council wasn't doing enough to justify the units continuing to pay their 50-cent-per-member fees, Webb said.

The council was late turning over membership fees to the state, Webb added, and had dwindled to one or two people trying to do work usually done by 10 or 12.

"A really important role of the council is to be a good model to the local units," Webb said. "Having it be one or two people trying to run the whole show is not a good model."

The council included PTA groups from nine elementary schools and Shaw Middle School, said Tillett, who is active in the Sheridan Elementary PTA.

Earlier this year, the council had to cancel an event designed to introduce the local PTA units to Spokane agencies offering services to families, Tillett said.

That event, called "Picking Up the Pieces," was canceled because not enough schools were interested.

An evening event for families on June 5 that included a fashion show, crafts sale and hands-on activities attracted about 35 people, Tillett said.

Spokane School District 81 had donated an office and telephone to the council this school year.

Those efforts were too little, too late, Webb said.

"An office does not make an organization," Webb said. "Having a space does not mean you're giving quality service."

Spokane's PTA groups will continue to function and receive services from the regional level of the organization, Webb said.

In the future, the units could petition the board to restore the council, the state president said.

"I understand how much Miki has put into trying to hold the council together," Webb said. "It's in no way a comment on her dedication to the organization at all."

The council once was a strong, active group that spearheaded issues such as safe crosswalks and the importance of school attendance, said Dawn Morrow, a former PTA regional director.

"I hate to see the council get dropped," Morrow said. "It leaves a real void."

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