Kenzie Dear and Sydney McClane (Posted on October 31 at 12:02 p.m.)

Alamo Heights Junior School is dedicated to being a warm and welcoming school that enriches every student’s life. The PTO plays a vital role in making this happen. The Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) is on a mission to ensure that every student has the best school experience possible. They’re also dedicated to making sure that teachers and administrators have everything they need to thrive. They do everything from organizing school events to giving grants to teachers. AHJS is thrilled to report that the PTO is continually raising the bar each school year, making school an even more welcoming place for all.

PTO’s Purpose

Ellen Hasslocher, this year’s PTO president, says, “Our biggest goal is to raise as much money as we can. The more money we get, the more money we are able to distribute to teachers and to the staff.” PTO’s biggest job is to ensure that every student has the resources and materials they need in order to have the best school or learning experience.

Emily King, a prominent member of PTO says, “They are happy to be able to use new things in their classroom. And then in return, we see student success because of the new materials or items that are being used.” Not only do teachers and students benefit from PTO, the actual members of the organization benefit. Seeing the smiles on the faces of teachers and the growth of students all because of PTO, always pushes the members to do even more for our community, making an even bigger impact on our school. 

Supporting AHJS 

At AHJS, the PTO is always active doing what they can to improve the school; some ways they do this are giving out materials to classrooms and even holding fundraisers and events throughout the year. 

Carrie Lane, another PTO member says, “We gave class sets of white boards and headphones to a lot of classes…If they can, you know, use it as a great classroom tool, then that’s the kind of thing that we like to support.” Recently PTO has given a sun dial to science classes as well as white boards and headphones to an assortment of classrooms. They are even working on getting a 3D printer for Texas History classes and equipment for Unified PE classes.

All of these materials impact students’ school experiences by providing more hands-on learning, being more inclusive, and overall improving productivity.