Amanda Milam has a candid description of what her job actually entails as principal of Du Quoin Elementary School.

"Wrangling adults," she said.

She means it warmly. Running a school means curriculum, communication, onboarding new staff, supporting families, and holding the whole enterprise together. After nearly two decades in the building as a first-grade teacher, special education teacher, and supported classroom instructor — and then four years as dean of students — Milam stepped into the principal's role this year. The transition was natural in some ways and humbling in others.

"You feel like you're on an island sometimes," she said. "Just being their boss now. Different role."

That kind of honesty is part of what drives one of her signature initiatives for the coming school year: the revival of Du Quoin Elementary's Parent Teacher Organization.

The PTO was dormant last year. Milam is determined to bring it back — and she has a clear sense of why.

"We want parents to be more involved. We want that communication to continue to be positive."

A few months ago, she sent a questionnaire to families asking who would be interested in volunteering, participating in meetings, or helping plan activities. The response was encouraging enough that she's setting the official kickoff for August — and hoping this article will help grow that list of interested families even further.

"Come on in," she said simply. "We want you in our school community."

What she envisions is less a fundraising committee and more a genuine bridge between home and school. The more often parents are inside the building — in classrooms, at events, in conversations with teachers — the more naturally trust develops.

"If they're coming into our building and they realize that we're real people," she said, "with lives outside of the school building, they're a little more sympathetic or empathetic" when conversations about their children arise. That's not a small thing. It's the difference between a phone call that feels adversarial and one that feels collaborative.

The activities she hopes to restore carry their own kind of nostalgia. The Penny Carnival — an evening where grade levels run games like ring toss and a Sweet Walk, collect donations, and funnel proceeds directly back to classroom parties — is something teachers are already excited about reviving. So is Santa's Workshop, a holiday tradition that lets students shop for inexpensive family gifts in the school library. Family Reading Night, Scholastic Book Fair, end-of-year field day — the PTO is meant to be woven into all of it.

One School, One Book is another initiative she'd love to connect to the PTO's energy. The program invites the entire school community to read the same book together — "janitors, cooks, everybody in the school," as she put it — and pairing it with Family Reading Night would create something genuinely communal.

The potential extends into career exposure as well. Earlier this year, Mrs. Craft's cousin — a pilot who works with a Southwest Airlines educational program — came in and delivered a presentation on aviation and the science of flight. The fourth graders were captivated. Matthew Blakemore, one of them, practically lit up talking about it afterward. "Matthew loved it," Milam confirmed.

That's the kind of programming she'd like to expand — parents and community members bringing their professional lives into the school and making the world feel larger for the kids inside it. Prymsian, the major industrial employer in the community, is another natural partner for that kind of engagement.

What Milam wants most is consistent, real participation — monthly meetings if possible, quarterly at minimum, and ongoing conversation that keeps the collaboration alive between events.

She also wants families to know that involvement doesn't require being physically present every time.

She was a working teacher-parent herself for years, and her own version of PTO support often looked like donating supplies or sending money when she couldn't be in the room.

"There are lots of ways to help," she said.

That message is the heart of the invitation: whatever you can give is welcome here. The school already has a great community behind it.

"We have a great community," Milam said. "They already are involved."

August is coming. The circle is being rebuilt. If you're a Du Quoin Elementary family and you'd like to be part of it, Principal Milam is already waiting to hear from you.