Thank you KC. I stand pleasantly corrected.

Originally posted by jonwilson:
Second, you can't revote an issue that was properly conducted (Motion, second, discussion, vote).

Actually, yes you can. It's not called a "recall", but a "motion to reconsider." A motion to reconsider must be made by somebody who voted on the prevailing side, requires a second (by any member), is debatable in this case, and requires a majority vote. If a majority votes to reconsider, then the original decision is set aside and the motion is on the floor for discussion and vote.

Some PTOs and PTAs have employees. I personally do not recommend this but some see the need for it and have the funds to be able to pay for them. One thing about employee costs that everyone ought to understand is that the costs always go up never down.

In this case the PTO has been asked to provide funds that they will obviously be asked to provide next year and will be expected to do as well. Also since the PTO will be sharing the cost of an "employee" this may open up another can of worms for them, it will depend on how they allocated the funds and the wording of the motion that was presented and passed.

But I read a political issue in the middle of this as well! One that can not be ignored because of how they are formed as a voting organization. Too many teachers on the board maybe? Why in the world the President here allow the super to just walk in and take over I have no idea, other than the political pull this person has. I also wonder why a district officer is bothering to come to a local school PTO meeting and using their position to bully something they want through a private organization. Let's face it if the super tells the principal to get that PTO off her campus it is gone! Talk about appearance of improper influance! This seems to me to be a matter for the board of education.

As for what has been has been, sorry live with it, but I would, if I were in your shoes, enforce roberts rules to the letter at every meeting in the future, until everyone got the hint.


BTW, I have run into this problem recently myself. Someone tried to comit our PTO to an expense they had no authority to do. At least in this case on this thread they came to your board first. My board refussed the funds. I know they are just loving the out of pocket espense they generated for themselves and I am anything but popular with them nor is my board But then who said this job would be easy?

Formerviceprez, There are a lot of problems in your post. I could understand a one-time donation to start a couple extra-curricular activities. But by the way I read your post, it sounds like you are going to provide all of the funding for things your group will have no control over. Not a good thing. Second, you can't revote an issue that was properly conducted (Motion, second, discussion, vote). You could have made another motion to add more money, but not change the figure you had already voted. There isn't a provision to recall a vote for the teachers. Yes, it should have been a ballot vote, but even better, would be to send it to a committee to investigate the issue in it's entirety vice being rushed into doing something that the superintendant wanted because she was there.

If you really want to be a stickler here pull out your Roberts Rules and you will find a number of adminitrative errors committed here that you can use to table this issue and the votes.

But personally I would recommend that you learn from the experience and move on, this may not be worth the fight.

This brings up a good point, I am sure that everyone that reads these posts state that Roberts Rules of Order will be used for meetings but does anyone really use them?

I know I dont - except a couple of times a year for our larger meetings.

Help! Our PTO was approched by the school Superintendent to help pay "coaches" (People qualifed to help teach) to start up and run a few extra curriculum activities after school programs. They would be offered to all students grades K-5. The school does not have the money to provide these activites. A group of parents and teachers have formed a committee and have come up with a Spanish Club, Destination Imagination, Arts and Crafts Club and a Drama Club. Our PTO has been discussing this issue for 2 months now. There has always been a lot of different opinions on this subject. We took a vote at our PTO meeting yesterday, it was decided to give only $500.00 even thought she asked for up to $1000.00, the vote was 6 for, 5 against and 1 undecided. Then right after we voted the superintedent walked in and said she had an outline of what the money would be used for and discussed the activities for about 20 minutes. I then asked if there were any amendments that needed to be made to the previous vote, and a parent said they wanted to change the dollar amount to $1000.00. The change was noted and the consensus was to revote and amend our voting outcome, however, the teachers that were at the meeting did not want to spend any more than $500.00 but felt they could not vote against the motion because the Superintedent (Their boss) was setting right there. The vote once again was 6 for 3 against and 1 undecided. Our PTO has always used our money to do things that would benifit all students. This would not because class sizes are small and everyone is not going to get in even if multipy classes are offered throughout the year. There are parents and teachers both who feel the district should either pay for this program or forget it, others feel it will benefit kids in the long run. My first mistake was to vote with a show of hands and not a ballot vote. My second mistake was to even allow the second vote to take place. But my trouble now is this, the teachers that were there would like me to call a special PTO meeting and they would like to recall their votes!! Can this be done and how?? Please HELP!

[ 11-07-2003, 12:01 AM: Message edited by: formerviceprez ]