Anyone can be considered apprentices if they are volunteering to help on committees or being committee chairpersons. If your bylaws indicate that all Executive Board positions must be elected, then these people cannot be considered Exec Board members no matter if they were selected by the Principal or not. they must be elected. However, if the principal is encroaching on stepping over her boundaries, you need to be prepared. Form a committee consisting of new members and experienced ones to begin to review the bylaws. Hold your meeting to vote on the changes. Your Principal cannot stop you from doing that unless her authority is written in the bylaws to override the Executive Board.
Vote them in and have them take effect immediately.

As always with posts of this nature, there are many things going on behind the scenes that we may not know about. As pzettler wrote, is the Principal not happy with the present status of the PTO? Does she have reason to feel this way? Etc...

But, you also make a great point. Your group, as it seems that you are truly independant, likely 501(c)3, have your own Bylaws, etc.; should be controlled by your Executive Board.

Here's some major points...

The ways things are done needs to be established now. Actually it should have been established back in July, when she first took over, but the more time you wait the worse it will be. Last year we had a new Principal and I met with him during the summer to provide my priorities, to listen to his, to explain the things that we do throughout the year, etc. I explained to him, in so many words, how important we are to him and that without us many, many things would not happen. I explained that we were independant, though his priorities were very important to us. That we control our own funds, that we establish a budget at the beginning of the year, that we have certain allocations of funds for various areas within the school, including the Library, art, music, technology, etc. That without our programs the Library would not have funds to purchase new books, or accelerated reading quizes, etc.

He quickly understood the way it is and that he would not "take control", but that we would work together for the benefit of his school and our children.

We now have a great relationship and the school is the best in the district.

In your case it seems that things have already gotten out of hand. You, as President, must reign things in. I would set up a meeting with the Principal, with you executive board, to discuss the remainder of the year. To define your budget and finalize the events. At your next meeting you may want to discuss how your Bylaws are a bit outdated and that you are establishing a committee to redefine them. The Principal will not be able to say no, as it isn't her place to do so. If she tries to interfere, you as President will need to shut her down, nicely, using your existing Bylaws, to explain that "looking to update an independant group's Bylaws every five years or so is very normal, and is in correlation with your group's mandate".

The Bylaws committee should be led by you, the President, with other Executive Board members. The Principal should not be "on" the committee, but should be advised of the final product once complete.

This will reestablish control, as you'll always be able to reference the Bylaws from then on.

Now this idea of the Principal's, of meeting with a group of volunteers and to consider them "appretices" is odd to say the least. Where did they come from? If they approached her she should have forwarded their inquiries to you, or just invited them to the next meeting. For her to use the term "apprentices" may hold meaning that you should be worried about. Is the Principal planning on having this hand-selecte group take over next year? Are they puppets?

Are these new "volunteers" attending meetings?

What was it that she wanted you to discuss with them when you met?

Lastly I don't see why you will have trouble updating your Bylaws and being able to define the Principal's role. If you are indepedant then it is your right to do this. You won't even need to get her permission, just provide her with the final product. If you are incorporated you should have your Bylaws filed with the town hall. If so you should reqrite them, file them, and then provide a copy to this new Principal explaining that the newly approved, updated Bylaws have been filed with the town and that they will be adhered to from now on.

Tred carefully, of course, as it is with her permission that your group gets to do so many wonderful things for your kids. But don't allow yourselves to just roll over and let her take away control. Keep control, but make sure she feels that her priorities are being taken into account.

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing and how things work out.
PresidentJim

All great ideas! I guess one of my main concerns is this new group of volunteers not being elected (as you would call it) to the executive board, isn't that the principal over influencing the board. Especially when she is calling them apprentices. Apprentices to me means, training to take over. This group of people were not appointed by the board and not approved by the PTO at large. I think that it creates bias within the group. I am not against them being on the board, however, I feel that it needs to be brought to the PTO in a formal manner and not just because the principal says that is what she wants.

Before acting, I suggest you wait a few days to see who else may have more to add to this proposed communication plan. Then re-organize this as you see fit and repost your own plan then wait a couple days to see what reaction you get. The with those things put into your

I may be wrong here, but it sounds like she's not satisfied with how the PTO is operating. The question now is, is she right or wrong? This is tough medicine to swallow.

Prepare a list of events the PTO was involved in last year as well as how much money the PTO has raised, if you don't already have it ready.

I'd have a talk with her and tell her that you're excited that she cares enough to attend and participate in the PTo meetings. Tell her you're getting the impression that she'd like to see the PTO improve. I'd ask questions to help you understand her expectations. Before you ask, write down your own answers to the questions, but do not share them with her just yet.

When you show up to the meeting, explain the process you'd like to use to get the most out of your time together

A) You'll ask her questions and Write down her answers
Review what you've written down with her to make sure you've recorded it properly
C) You'll share you own answers to these questions
D) Then you'll ask more questions and record more answers and share prior results
E) You'll share the topics you have to discuss in Step F and decide to proceed or reschedule.
F) Then you'll collaborate on next steps.
G) You both will adjourn and allow for some self soul searching and decide when or if you should talk more.

Here are some questions for step A above you might choose to ask her:

1) What do you think the mission of the PTO is?
2) What new and old events do you think the PTO should be sponsoring?
3) What projects and events should the PTO be funding?
4) Do you have a certain $ range in mind for how much money should the PTO be raising?
5) Should the PTO be responsible for helping with classroom specific event as the teacher requests?
6) What is her goal for volunteer hours for the next year?
7) What percentage of volunteer hours should be done during school hours versus after school hours?
8) How should the PTO leadership be soliciting parental and teacher involvement?


Then after her answers to the above questions are written down, so you can reflect on them over and over again, ask these questions: (This is still step A)

How is the PTO currently doing at fullfilling it's mission?
For the events the PTO has already been involved in, which should be stopped, scaled back, continued pretty much as is, scaled up, or reorganized?
What new events should be started?
Share the difference in money she thinks you should be raising versus what you did raise last year.
What does she think is the best way to raise that amount of money?

It's time for Step B - Review what you've written

It's time for Step C - Share your answers

It's time for Step D - Ask the questions below...

Given the answers you've given me, which are most important to improve on first?
How quickly do you think these improvements can and should happen?

Take a minute to share the topics in step E below and decided if you and she are ready to move forward, or need to schedule another meeting to do these. If either of you is not ready, I suggest you wait to go into them. Signs that you are not ready to move forward are that you are shocked by any of her previous answers.

It's time for Step E - Share the topics in Step F and decided to discuss or reschedule.

It's time for Step F - Collaborate with her and share the list below before expecting a response

How do the goal of volunteer hours compare to other schools? More, less, pretty much in line? This let's you know if you'll have to do more or less than other schools to reach those goals, (if that's what you want to do)
What is common between her goals and your goals?
Where are the differences? What is in common? (You want to close the gap in differences and continue or increase activities in the common areas).
What skill sets do you need yourself to acheive those goals?
How can you find others that have those skills?
How can you excite others to get on board?

Now it's time for Step G - (when you are alone)

Given that there will likely be differences, which differences are you willing to work toward closing?
Which differences is she willing to work toward closing?
Then ask yourself, are her expectations realistic?

I am in serious need of help. We have a new principal at our school that is trying to take control of our PTO. She schedules speakers without board approval and make speeches at the meeting that are confusing our new members and basically trying to change everything.. I have been the president for 3 years now(because of lack of members and someone willing to take that position) We don't have updated by-laws that clearly establish the role of the principal, However, it my understanding that she sits on the board as an advisor, she doesn't control everything. She recently advised me that I have to meet with a group of volunteers( that do not hold a chair position) and that I should consider them apprentices. I am not sure what that means. I advised her that these people are not considered board members unless they hold a chair on a committee. I was basically told that is what she wants. I appreciate the fact that she is bringing new members to the PTO, and she wants to make this a more formal business, however, she is operating outside our outdated by-laws and I know that we will have difficulty updating these by-laws that would limit her role within this group. Can anyone recommend anything?