Welcome to the new ortegapto.org
Same PTO, same otters — a much better tool for families. We’ve rebuilt the Ortega PTO website from the ground up. The old site was a bulletin board. This one is built to answer the questions you actually have on a Tuesday morning: When is that thing? What’s for lunch? How do I sign up?
Here’s what’s new and worth two minutes of your time.
The calendar lives on your phone, not just on our site
The calendar pulls PTO, school, and district dates into one place — no more checking three sources. Tap Add to calendar and you can subscribe to it from Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or Outlook.
That’s a live subscription, not a one-time copy. When the PTO moves a meeting or adds a spirit day, it updates on your phone automatically. Set it up once in August and you’re done for the year.
This week’s cafeteria menu, right on the homepage
Breakfast and lunch for the next several school days, pulled straight from the district’s menu system. It updates itself. No PDF, no download, no “is this last year’s menu?”
Volunteer sign-ups take about ten seconds
No account. No login. No printed sheet coming home in a backpack.
On the volunteer page, open a shift, enter your name and email, and you’re signed up. You’ll get a confirmation email right away, an add-to-calendar button for the shift, and a reminder a day or two before it — plus a cancel link in every email, so if something comes up you can free your spot for someone else without emailing anyone.
News that can reach your phone
You can turn on notifications for important PTO news — early dismissals, last-minute changes, sign-up deadlines. We’ll use these sparingly; this is not a feed, it’s the handful of things you’d be annoyed to miss.
Look for the bell, or say yes when the site asks. On iPhone and iPad, Apple only allows notifications from sites you’ve added to your Home Screen — tap Share → Add to Home Screen first, then turn them on.
Prefer email? Otter Town News still lands in your inbox, and you can sign up in one line at the bottom of the homepage.
Everything else you’ll find
- New to Ortega? — a first-week guide for families joining us, especially incoming TK and kinder.
- Spirit wear — order online, pay by card, pick up at school. Tell us your student’s teacher at checkout and we’ll get it to them.
- Donate and teacher wishlists — give to the PTO, or fund a specific classroom’s list directly.
- Resources — school and district links, parent portals, and the learning tools your kids use, in one tidy list.
- Meet your PTO — who’s on the board, plus meeting dates and minutes as well as our bylaws.
Built to work the way you do
The whole site is designed phone-first, because that’s where most of you read it. It’s fast, it works in dark mode, and it’s built to accessibility standards — readable text, keyboard navigation, and screen-reader support throughout. If any part of it doesn’t work for you, that’s a bug and we want to hear about it.
Tell us what’s missing
This is version one. If something’s hard to find, out of date, or just plain broken, send us a note. A volunteer built this for you and we’d rather fix it than have you work around it.
Thanks for being part of the Ortega community. 🦦