Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Records of the Arlington County Council of PTAs, Collection # RG 183, Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History

Acquisition Information

Donated by Lawrence Fishtahler in July 2010.

Historical Information

RG 183 houses the records of the Arlington (Virginia) Council of PTAs (CCPTA). The CCPTA comprises local PTA units from 22 elementary schools, four middle schools, and three high schools in Arlington County. The mission is to promote the goals of PTA: supporting and speaking on behalf of school children, helping parents be effective guardians and role models for their children, and encouraging greater parental involvement in their schools. CCPTA provides leadership, assists, and acts as a resource for local PTAs, helping them to work more effectively for their schools and communities. The Council was organized in 1931, although records of the early years are no longer extant, according to a history compiled in 1949 (Series 1, File 19).

The CCPTA is governed by the bylaws of the Virginia PTA. Local PTAs join the CCPTA as self-governing organizations.

Scope and Content

RG 183 measures approximately 6.5 linear feet and dates from 1949 to 2003 (bulk dates 1990-2002). Types of material include agendas, minutes, correspondence, reports, newsletters, subject files, and miscellaneous printed matter.

The records concern topics of interest to Arlington PTAs during the periods covered. The most popular include school budgets, teacher salaries, school boundaries, school annual and daily schedules, school transportation and safe routes to school, curricula, diversifying school populations, Virginia Standards of Learning, summer activities, family involvement activities, school overcrowding, PTA program planning, Virginia education legislation, and activities of the Virginia PTA.

Arrangement

Record Group 183 is organized into six series by date spans, the collection's original organization. Under each series there are files by subjects, the original arrangement. As much as possible, the original subject labels are used, even when this causes slight variations in subject terminology between series. Note that there are several date gaps (e.g. 1992, 1996). Folders containing photographs have an asterisk [*] after the file name.

Related Material

Researchers interested in Arlington County schools may consult such records as: RG 163, Records of the Arlington County School Board and RG 7, Records of the Arlington County Public Schools .

Index Terms

Subjects:

• Arlington (Va.)
• Arlington County (Va.)
• Education -- Virginia -- Arlington County (Va.)
• Parent-teacher relationships -- United States.

Adjunct Descriptive Data