A community rooted in our school

The McNear Elementary PTA is the parent-teacher organization for McNear Elementary School in Petaluma, California. We exist to connect families, support teachers, and fund the programs and experiences that make McNear a place children love to learn.

Parent involvement at McNear runs high, and that is by design. We believe family investment is the backbone of a strong school culture, and we work to include families to the fullest extent — at events, in classrooms, on committees, and behind the scenes.

The school we support

McNear is the home of the Falcons: a small but growing community, serving transitional kindergarten through sixth grade, that genuinely feels like family. The campus has a calm, park-like setting bordered by Thomson Creek and a watershed, which makes authentic environmental learning part of everyday life.

Students learn in the school garden, a bird-habitat area, the front lawn, the outdoor library, and the back grass — often with science journals in hand. That outdoor-learning identity is recognized well beyond Petaluma: McNear earned the honor of becoming the only elementary school in California to be named a Green Ribbon School, and it is also a Blue Zones-approved school.

What we fund

PTA support makes it possible for McNear to dream big. Thanks to families like yours, every student has access to gardening, MASC, the MAKER Program, Intro to Spanish, and environmental literacy. The PTA also helped create a first-of-its-kind outdoor library that students use every single day.

Last year, the McNear PTA raised close to $160,000 for the school — and every dollar stayed right here at McNear.

How we work

Alongside the school, the PTA supports a culture built on PBIS and four simple expectations: Be Kind, Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful. We help bring the year to life with community traditions — the Ice Cream Social, monthly spirit days, BINGO Nights, the Halloween Parade, Field Day, and more — and we do it without the firehose of reminders. One ask at a time, clearly, when it matters.