Prince George's County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations

The Prince George's County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations (PGCCPTA) was organized in May 1941, by the memberships of five local Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs): Greenbelt Elementary, Greenbelt High, Mt. Rainier High, Oxon Hill Elementary, and Riverdale Elementary schools. The mission of the PGCCPTA was to strengthen and improve local PTAs ("units") and their programs; compile, evaluate, and report information about children and their needs; provide workshops and training sessions for their members; and provide a means for local PTAs to coordinate their efforts. The PGCCPTA was an unincorporated organization which, along with the individual PTAs, was chartered under the Maryland Congress of Parents and Teachers (MCPT), a state branch of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers (NCPT). The MCPT approved the bylaws of the PGCCPTA as well as the local units and examined the PGCCPTA's records and accounts for accuracy.

Local units of the PGCCPTA could send their president and two delegates to participate in PGCCPTA Council meetings. The PGCCPTA Council consisted of a president, two vice presidents, recording and corresponding secretaries, a treasurer, and various regional vice presidents. Along with these officers, there were also two field service representatives who advised the president on MCPT affairs. The president oversaw PGCCPTA Council and Executive Committee meetings, and coordinated the work of officers in promoting the plan of the PGCCPTA. The president was also a member of the MCPT Board of Managers, the governing body of the MCPT. The PGCCPTA Council met six times per year, but the president could also call special meetings. Past presidents of the PGCCPTA Council included Norman Lawrence (1958-1959), Gladys Noon Spellman (1959-1961), Phyllis Williams (1964-1967), Ruth Wolf (1967-1968), Eloise Hall (1968-1971), and J. Harrison Ager (1972-1975).

The Executive Committee, which consisted of PGCCPTA Council officers, committee chairpersons, the immediate past president, the Superintendent of Prince George's County Schools or his/her representative, and a representative from the Prince George's County Board of Education, carried out the administrative functions of the PGCCPTA Council. The Executive Committee created standing committees, but the president also held the power to create special committees if such a need arose.

In 2000, the MCPT revoked the charter of the PGCCPTA for undisclosed reasons. The charter was reinstated the following year, but was once again revoked in 2007 for failure to keep accurate records of bylaws, minutes, and financial documents.

From the guide to the Prince George's County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations archives, 1952-1981 and undated, 1964-1974, (University of Maryland Libraries)