PFA: Vote Retains Independent Group : School Boosters Refuse to Disband and Join PTA

Parents and teachers at Westlake Elementary School on Friday rebuffed a move to disband an independent school booster organization and reorganize as a branch of the nationally affiliated PTA.

In a close vote at a Mother’s Day breakfast on the school patio, mothers, fathers and teachers present voted 120 to 98 to keep their independent Parent Faculty Assn. intact.

The contest had divided the existing PFA into opposing camps, with those in favor of converting to the PTA saying it would provide greater leadership and training, and those against saying the PTA would divert membership dues from local needs to lobby for unpopular national political causes.

“I’m elated,” said parent Debra Lorier, who led the opposition to the PTA. “I just want to get the word out about what the issues are and what the difference is between PFA and the PTA.”

Westlake PFA co-chairwomen Kathy Dirks and Ilene Koppel, who led the effort to join the PTA, said they weren’t sure why the vote went as it did, but they both speculated that it had to do with how well the existing organization works. Last year, the group raised more than $80,000 for school projects.

“I guess they thought, ‘Why mess with success?’ ” Koppel said. Dirks said the vote was a surprise.

“I feel very strongly about the PTA and maybe sometime in the distant future we might think about trying it again,” she said. “But right now, my focus is just to get back on track with the kids and the school.”

The disagreement began when Dirks and Koppel asked PTA representatives to talk to their group about the national organization and its benefits.

Dirks and Koppel said they first investigated joining the PTA for the resources it would provide.

“It’s hard for people who don’t have this volunteer job to understand,” Koppel said. “We’re always looking for a better way to be a treasurer, or run a fund-raiser or get volunteers. PTA was going to give us a framework.”

Lorier, who had attended the informational meeting with two conservative board members of the Conejo Unified School District, said the meeting was one-sided, presenting only the good side of the PTA.

The $2.75 per member annual dues that goes to the PTA district, state and national offices would be better spent locally, she said. In addition, she cited objectionable political causes that the PTA supports.

In a flier that Lorier and others put together and recently handed out at the curb in front of Westlake Elementary, Lorier stated that the PTA “publicly takes a stand on political issues that go far beyond the realm of education, such as therapeutic abortion, family planning, fair housing, lead poisoning, paint ball gun control, ethics in political campaigns, drive-in movies, etc.”

In addition, she has objected to stands in favor of sex education in the classroom, the use of the now-defunct CLAS test as an evaluation tool and other issues.

But, she said, with the vote and victory behind her, she plans to get back to the business of being a PFA member.

“I’m just going to support my school in every way that I can,” she said.

Westlake Principal Bernard Carr said the community had spoken with the vote.

“We have a great group of parents who work for the kids,” he said. “That would have been the case if we were a PFA or a PTA.”