When the school board approved tearing down an elementary school playground in Carroll County on account of hazardous conditions, administration was told they’d need to pay to replace it.
The school, Westminster Elementary School, was — and still is — a Title I school, which receives supplemental financial assistance for students from low-income families such as free or reduced lunches. So, there’s not always extra money to go around.
“[The school board] only seemed concerned with really big, big projects and not some of the things that the school systems really need,” says Stacey Tracey, a parent at the school. “To me, one of the most important things is for kids to have exercise and [time] outside the classroom.”
By February 2022, more than half of the playground had been removed and many students were told they wouldn’t see a new playground by the time they moved on to middle school.
But despite the hill to climb, the parents at the school mobilized and ended up raising $180,000 to build a new playground in just one year.
At the time, both of Tracey’s children were enrolled in Westminster Elementary, and she was good friends with the president of the school’s parent-teacher organization (PTO). Her background in accounting gave her an opportunity to serve as PTO treasurer that year, and for the 2025-26 school year, she served as PTO president.
What can parents accomplish in a PTO?
A PTO is different from a PTA.
Westminster Elementary PTO is a nonprofit volunteer organization made up of parents, teachers and administrators. PTOs are independent parent-teacher groups that aren’t affiliated with a national organization like PTAs are.
For Tracey, the experience was “eye opening.” She learned how a PTO can act as a bridge between the school and community.
“I feel like our county doesn’t take advantage of some of the bond initiatives that you can get from the state of Maryland,” she explains. “Montgomery County actually went to the state and got a million dollars for all of their playgrounds … whereas Carroll County only has one person that handles grants, and they aren’t so concerned with some of these projects.”
To help fund Westminster Elementary’s playground, Tracey reached out to local legislators.
According to Tracey, the PTO applied to roughly $125,000 in grants with the help of Maryland State Senator Justin D. Ready through the legislative bond initiative from the state.
Then, to raise additional money, Tracey says the PTO distributed flyers and reached out to local businesses in their free time, creating sponsorship levels where local business could displaying their name on the school sign.
But the fundraising was only half the battle. Tracey said she had to also negotiate with contractors.
“We ended up reaching out to other schools to see what contractors they used,” she recalls. “Then having meetings with contractors to look at the type of playground equipment we could get and how much it cost.”
The Domino Effect
In February of 2024, the new playground was complete. However, the PTO’s work didn’t stop there. Next, the physical education teacher came to the PTO meetings and told them they needed new gym mats that the school couldn’t provide.
“Once we raised enough money for [the playground], people were coming to us with other ideas,” says Tracey. “We decided, ‘Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t we create a sponsorship thing like we did for the playground?’ And we went out and we gave businesses opportunities to put their sign in the gym.”
From there, Tracey says the PTO started asking, “What does the school need that the school can’t afford?”
The number of Title I schools in the state of Maryland has only increased. In 2022, Westminster Elementary was one of 469 public schools with Title I programs in the state, making up a quarter of all Maryland public elementary and secondary schools, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. Today, reports from the Maryland Department of Education show 37% of all Maryland Public Schools are Title I schools, a 12% increase in the past four years.
Tracey adds that beyond what the school may need, students have needs, too. For many of them, arriving to school in Crocs, boots or flip-flops is the norm, hindering them from participating in physical education. In December of 2025, the PTO launched a “Step Into PE” program using grant money awarded to them by the Kindness Grows Here nonprofit, providing new athletic shows for students to borrow, clean and reuse.
And there’s a lot more the PTO has been able to do for students and teachers.
This past school year, the PTO raised more than $62,000 from fun runs, read-a-thons, bingo, monthly restaurant nights and sponsorships.
With the funds raised every year, the PTO gives every staff member a stipend at the beginning of the school year, purchases conference night and back to school dinners for teachers, purchases agenda books for students and supplements field trip costs.
Dreaming Big
Westminster Elementary PTO is still dreaming big, and its latest efforts involve more ways to communicate with parents and students.
For a Title I school, Tracey says communication between the school, teachers and the parents is extra important. But they had a problem: “[The] school sign was falling apart.”
“We were one of the few schools that doesn’t have an electric sign yet,” Tracey explains. “Some parents read emails, some parents read Facebook. A lot of parents drive by the sign [for information].”
Tracey, along with the school’s principal and PTO treasurer, spoke at a hearing in Carroll County to Ready and the delegates and requested $35,000 for a school sign, based on estimated costs through research.
“Everyone in Carroll County backed us, and we were able to get the school sign [funded],” Tracey says.
The school sign is currently being built for the 2026-27 school year.
“We are fortunate to have a PTO that provides continuous communication and collaboration to meet the needs of our school community,” says Westminster Elementary Principal Stephanie Dale in an emailed statement. “As a first-year principal, it was amazing to come to Westminster Elementary School and instantly see that our small but mighty PTO was already working to provide our students with fun and educational opportunities.”
