The determination in the by-laws of the membership including teachers/staff/faculty in the membership should not create two kinds of members. What about the special situation which is likely in small-town or rural areas: should a parent be also a teacher or staff at the same school, wouldn't you deny them the right to act as a parent, which if they would have their kids at a different school would be able to do?
In addition to the standard Prez, VP, Secretary and Treasurer, we added to our board a Member at large and a Parent-teacher liaison. We do not restrict our positions to parents only, but I do not see the problem of teachers jumping to take any positions as their schedules will not allow them to fulfill the many jobs of a PTO officer.
We just formed our PTO and included a teacher rep as a member of the Exec Board. The former PTO that was joint did not have that specific position and teachers felt that many times the effects that projects/fundraisers etc had on their schedules/workload were taken into consideration. Additionally we removed the limitation of teachers not being able to hold officer positions, however, after reading the prior posts, I might suggest that we amend our bylaws to read that faculty cannot hold the President or President-elect positions.
I do not see this being a huge issue since teachers are overwhelmed as is and the PTO requires a huge amount of time and dedication particularly in the top 2 Exec. positions.
We should remember that this is a PARENT TEACHER group. If the teacher part wasnt important than it would be a parent group only.
At our elem. schools we all encourage that there be "Teacher Rep(s)" on the executive board - so that they can help contribute thoughts on issues that affect the staff and students in many ways. Many times I have noticed that teachers accept this role so that they have an idea what issues are PTA and what issues are really campus excellence issues.
If the teacher rep. did agree to sit on the exeuctive board, it was required that they be able to attend all the meetings (both executive and general) so that they always were as well informed as any of the other board members.
I have only wonderful opinions on this matter and have felt blessed to have these wonderful people speak on behalf of the PTA when topics of conversation may happen and there is no PTA person around to help clear up an issue or voice a thought.
Thank God for the teachers and the parents that wish to help improve the lives of todays students with a strong education and bright future - and help them to all work together with vision and insight , on behalf on a PTO, PTA or any other Parent Teacher group.
We also have the position of Teacher Rep on our board. It is an executive, voted on, board position. In the last few years, we have had 2 teachers share the responsibilities since they are so busy. This has worked out well. Up until last year, the Treasurer was a teacher,but she was unable to do it any longer due to increased responsibilities with another group she belonged to. I like the idea of the Treasurer being a staff member. That way they are easily assessible for checks. Even our Pres. this year is an employ. She is a para, but also has a child in school, so she sees it from both ways. That has proved to be very valuable (so far). I don't think there is a conflict of interest, but I think it changes with each person elected to that position. Some may abuse their power, while others may not. (We saw it first hand last year) I would say, trust your instincts, put out a "feeler" to other parents, and go from there. Good Luck!
As PTA, we have a "Teacher Rep" position on our board. This is not an Exec position, but it helps get info to the teachers, as well as giving us their feeback. Some teachers do not realize that if they join PTO/PTA, then they are voting members. Recently they were reminded this and were very excited to put in their 2cents about where some of our fundraising money should go. It was a win/win situation.
We do not have any "rule" against teachers/staff being on the board, and I honestly am really torn. If teachers are on the board they are involved, and will hopefully get their fellow teachers excited & involved, (that's great). The down side is that they will tend to make decisions in the staff room, so to speak, and PTo matters will be discussed/decided on. In the past many of our presidents were staff (yard duty, teachers asst. health aide..)and I did see teachers going right to them for a answer/money instead of coming to meetings. [img]smile.gif[/img]
