Well, we heard from our contact at the BOE and she said we have to have an election for the Vice-Pres. and Treasurer. Okay so I send home a newsletter explaining that we are taking nominations starting at Open House (yes another one this year).
We had a box made up, printed up nomination sheets...
The lady that started the trouble stuffed the box with her name, signing other peoples names to to forms. Someone saw her do it from one of the other organizations tables at the Open House. Why would you need to stuff a nomination box?? You only need one!!!!! She even came up to me and asked how and I explained it to her beforehand.
Now our problem is our by-laws. Originally we were going to have paid members only be allowed to vote at the election, we were told unless it's in the by-laws we can't do that. So okay but it's not in our by-laws who can vote, just people who show up. So basically anyone can come, weather involved in school or not and vote. I have a feeling this is going to be messy and this woman will bring outside people to vote for her.
This is turning out to be a bigger mess than any of us wanted to deal with!!!
And the Board suggested we have members from some of the older kids parents too. Well our stand in Vice Pres did come from the middle school, if she doesnt get voted in we will not have any representation from the old middle school at all.
Will keep posted how it goes. Our voting is at our next meeting on the 27th.
I don't want to make it sound like we're a huge organization with hundreds of active volunteers. Like everyone else, we struggle and the same core folks commit time and again.
But since our operations are all handled at the Board level, we want that Board to be bigger than just 5 or 6 people. So it includes the 6 elected officers, 4 school reps, 6 grade parent reps (K-5), plus chairs of all the committees. So it quickly gets up to 20+ official members. Our board meetings have anywhere from 12-20 attending each month.
It is felt that the person in question is targeting a specific person. The one that came from the middle school who is now the vice president.
The woman complaining did volunteer to be our Title I rep at the meeting and event gets a trip out of it at the end of the year! We are trying to avoid someone taking over everything, wanting more control. We had that problem the past 2 years and were hoping it was over as that person left. That woman had many positions and took over other peoples jobs behind their backs.
We don't have 20-30 positions for out PTO. We have never had more than 4-6 people ever come to meetings no matter what we asked for, how many flyers we sent home. But maybe we can add more positions in hopes that others will join us.
Thanks again! I am sure we will work it out. We just want to get started and get things going for the year.
I agree! You need all the help you can get. We do a request for nominations (at the end of the year) with all the Board Positions, Committee chairs, etc. It is at least 20-30 positions. That way there are plenty to choose from. Since I've been involved we've never had more than one person for a position, except last year and I chose to "step down" because I thought it was great to get new people involved. Then our Pres-elect left and I ended up as President. You will be LUCKY if you have multiple people for each position! If it happens, then communicate and see if there is something else they are interested in or hold the election.
As many of you know, I'm a big believer in having a large Executive Board as that's generally who decides everything. Ours is 25-30 positions since it includes all officers, school reps, committee chairs, etc.
Another approach might be list ALL the positions, make a case for proceeding with the existing officers, but agressively begin to fill all open positions with a mix of parents from both previous schools.
I sincerely doubt your BOE wants to get involved in this or really has much guidance to offer.
My advice is just move forward with the best common sense approach you can. Do the current officers really CARE about their positions? Some might feel they already started and want to continue; some might be totally open. "Oh, someone ELSE is willing to be treasurer? Great, I'd just as soon run XYZ committee instead."
I'd probably find out how everyone feels (because it slants your approach), then send a cheery letter home to everyone with a nomination form. Explain how you want everyone to have a voice and for anyone interested to serve. State your current slate of officers (maybe their backgrounds), ask for others interested, set a short but reasonable deadline, and hold an election.
If you have officers who are entrenched, but new ones also want the position - then you need a "real election" where the constested positions state their credentials and the general membership picks. If you end up with only one person per position (or someone doesn't care and will move to another position), then the voting is just a formality.
The good news is (if handled correctly) this can be a great marketing opportunity for the PTO and involve some new people. Most likely, it will also solidfy the position of those already in place.
email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you need a sample nomination form. (Note, while only OFFICERS are elected, it's a great time to fill committee chair spots and other positions.)
