Our organization meetings are brief and run informally, but our Board Meetings are more organized and minutes are taken. These minutes are available to any member of the PTO at any time through our Secretary (copy kept in our files). We also keep a separate notebook of the minutes for the faculty to review.
Our secretary tape records all meetings from start to finish (helps compile minutes and squash any of the "Well I didn't say THAT" afterwards. She types them up and we make copies available to each member at the next meeting. We do however vary slightly from the Robert's Rules...we don't read ours out loud, we ask that the members take a few minutes to look over them and then a vote is taken to approve or make corrections [img]smile.gif[/img]
Even if your Bylaws don't specifically spell out the policy regarding minutes, Roberts Rules of Order does. If your organization has adopted RRO as its guide (see your Bylaws...), then you should absolutely present the minutes of the preceeding meeting to your membership. We post ours in the school lobby and distribute copies at the next meeting.
You might want to pick up any of the many books that summarize RRO at any bookstore. I especially like "Robert's Rules in Plain English" by Doris P. Zimmerman. See page 22 for procedure for approving last month's minutes.
Check your bylaws! Check other PTO's bylaws! It does sound fishy to me. Our bylaws are very clear on our minutes and it works like this:
During the meeting-Recording Secretary takes down the Minutes and records all votes and other business. After the meeting, she puts them in legible (lol) form, types them, gives me (the president) and the principal's secretary a copy of the typed minutes. The Minutes are posted on the back of our monthly newsletter or on the back of the monthly lunch menu or on any thing that is going home with the students. This ensures that EVERYONE sees what happened at the meeting. AT THE NEXT MEETING: Recording Secretary reads the typed Minutes aloud. I ask for a motion to approve the Minutes as read and then ask for a second...I ask for any discussion which is for any corrections or additions...and then take the vote to approve.
Soooooooo.........
Minutes are taken at the meeting
Minutes are typed one or two days after meeting
Minutes are given to president/principal for distribution to ALL teachers, parents, volunteers
Minutes are read and approved at next meeting
Is there a format for preparing and distributing the minutes from prior meetings?
When I raised the question at a PTO meeting as to allow minutes to be copied and distributed for members, the president said it would have to be voted on by exec committee. Doesn't that sound funny?
The so called "vote" came back three months later - that prior meeting's minutes would not be copied but if someone had a question to call the president.
