The Demopolis PTA will hold their first meeting of the school year on Monday, Sept. 9 at 6 p.m. at Westside Elementary.

PTA President Betsy Stephens said a program is still in the works for the first meeting, but food will be served.

The Demopolis PTA serves Westside Elementary, U.S. Jones Elementary and Demopolis Middle School, and they help raise funds for each of the schools with different fundraisers and events.

Currently, the PTA is holding a membership drive through Friday, Sept. 6. Those who sign up by that date will be eligible to receive prizes. The cost of membership is $15, and membership forms are available at each of the three member schools.

“By joining, parents are helping the schools,” Stephens said. “We pay $3.25 in state and national dues, and everything else goes back into the schools. We help buy supplies for students, and each school has a general fund that they can use to purchase what they need for classrooms.”

Stephens said the PTA is hoping to have more people involved with the schools this year to help take some of the load off of teachers.

“We want to get more people involved in the PTA,” she said. “You don’t have to be a parent to help the schools. Funding is down in the schools, so we can help provide things that aren’t necessarily a necessity. A lot of the technology at U.S. Jones was from PTA funds.”

Stephens added that Westside Elementary and U.S. Jones both have 100 percent teacher participation, which labels them as “Golden Apple Schools.”

“Our goal is for all three schools to be “Golden Apple Schools” this year,” she said.

Each school has a vice president that works closely with a teacher representative from their school. This year, the three vice presidents are Claire Bell at Westside, Angela Schumacher at U.S. Jones and Michelle Murdock at Demopolis Middle School. The treasurer of the PTA this year is Caty Cameron and the secretary is Paula Parr.

The first fundraiser of the school year will be at U.S. Jones, and it will begin in September. Westside will hold their fundraiser in the spring.

Stephens said Demopolis Middle School usually does their fundraisers in school instead of out selling items like the elementary schools.