The Louisiana PTA is the liaison between the local PTA and National PTA, helping each to function effectively and to support and sustain the other. The LAPTA also coordinates programs statewide on behalf of children and youth, is represented on state committees and commissions dealing with children and youth, provides conferences, workshops, publications and resources on issues and leadership development, services units and districts.
The deadline for having entries to the State PTA is January 15th. No entries will be accepted late. If you have any questions please contact Robyn Hutchinson by email.
Robyn Hutchinson
La. State PTA 2nd V.P.
rhhutch25@yahoo.com
Beware of vendors or websites offering free pages to PTAs.
Free solutions are able to cost nothing because their business model relies on placing revenue-producing Google Ads on as many pages as possible. They want as many customers as possible to produce as many pages as possible so they can place as many Google ads as possible. Server space is relatively cheap and the software used to produce the platform is likely an open source software that costs the provider nothing. So this isn’t necessarily a magnanimous gesture on the part of the solution provider. This just fits in with their business plan.
The problem with Google ads on these pages is twofold: One, the customer can’t control what ads appear so there is a risk of inappropriate (or irrelevant) content, Two, the boxes in which these ads (and the ads themselves) are ugly and make for poor design.
The Great Idea Bank
PTA uses the Ning.com platform to host and maintain the PTA Great Idea Bank (www.ptagreatideabank.org). The platform is easy to learn and fairly robust for a low-cost solution. There is a monthly fee for customers to keep Google Ads off the pages and another smaller fee for customers to use their own domain name, which is advisable (for instance, the Ning URL for the Great Idea Bank site is ptagreatideabank.ning.com). The site allows for discussion groups, calendaring, notes, group e-mail and more. Additionally, as a social networking tool, a Ning site can help build an online community.
Free Blogging
Free blogging platforms can perform many necessary functions. Blogger and WordPress, the two most popular and versatile platforms, are easy to use and produce professional-looking websites. With some basic HTML knowledge, standing features such as a short calendar can be added to blog pages. Domain names can be added to these blog addresses fairly easily.
