The school year is underway, and PTO is excited about the increase in family memberships this

year! We/PTO are a very important group here at RWA!! The academic success of EVERY
student is important; and the students, faculty, and staff are our priority! I would like to take
this opportunity to encourage the remaining RWA families to join!! Becoming a supportive and
active member of PTO should not be a difficult choice to make…. it is our obligation to be
involved in our children’s academic success. Please read my comments below that were shared
at the Corporate Meeting and carefully consider being a part of PTO.

PTO is a life line to academic success! Why do I feel this way? Because I know that we, as PTO
members/parents/families/friends, want EVERY child to be successful at RWA and PTO supports
many great programs to ensure that our children have access to the tools they need to
successfully prepare them for the future.

I want to offer you 3 very important reasons many parents choose to support PTO year after
year, and I hope that for those of you who have not explored being a part of this vital group
that at least one of these key points will help you decide to join us for the 2009-2010 Academic
Year.

I have chosen the acronym CPR to help remind you of the important role PTO plays! If you
were to ask any PTO family why they were a part of this organization, I think each would give at
least one…. if not all 3 reasons I am about to share with you.

The first Letter of the acronym is “C.” “C” stands for Children. Research indicates that children
succeed in school at higher levels when parents are involved. When families are involved, a
child is more apt to get higher grades, be more likely to graduate, and more likely to attend
college. So obviously, children (which is the C in our acronym) like to see us in the environment
where they spend seven hours a day.

The next letter in the CPR acronym is “P”: Parental Involvement. Parental Involvement is PTO’s
number one goal. Being involved is not synonymous with being “sucked” in. I must strongly
emphasize that PTO is more than just fundraising. Fundraising is really just a necessary evil.
However, it is PTO’s privilege to provide some of the things that our school budgets cannot
cover without raising tuition costs exponentially. And let me be witness to you that we are only
able to do that through your willingness to participate in our fundraisers. Sally Foster Gift
Wrap, Box Tops for Education, the SchoolMall program, cookie dough sales…… these are some
of the ways we raise money for classroom supplies, funding of the AR reading program,
development of a science lab, lower school Field Day, Awards Day, the Academic Banquet,
funding of a Senior Scholarship, and sponsorship of the annual SAT workshop. As budgets
become tighter and tighter, parent groups everywhere are having to fill in the gaps, and so are
we. But our main goal is to get more parents connected to the school. So to reiterate, the
“P” in our CPR acronym stands for parental involvement. More than 300 independent research
studies show that building parent involvement in education is the number one thing we can do
to create a great school and improve student performance.

And finally the “R”: Relationships. The relationships that you build with your children’s
teachers, your children’s friends, and other RWA families will be incredible. Each one of us
certainly has some of the same experiences to share with at least one other family here at
RWA. As your network of relationships grows, you will be amazed how many of us are alike.
We are all about working together to create a better school and a better educational
experience for our children. PTO strives to create an academic environment where teachers,
administrators, and our children can do their best work!

So please choose to be involved… choose to connect and communicate with other parents who
share in the same excitement of educating all of our children! And if you ever have any
questions or concerns about the role of PTO please do not hesitate to contact me. On behalf
of the PTO, thanks for all you do to make RWA the best that it can be. I challenge each of you
to join PTO!! It is one of the best investments you can make…. Not only financial but personally
and academically!

Respectfully,

Kerri Martin
PTO President 2009-2010
martin6961@msn.com
803.635.9960