My personal opinion is that teachers or school staff should not hold any of the elected officer position (president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, parlimentarian) because it creates a potential conflict of interest. (But we do allow teachers who are parents to be committee chairs.)
Hopefully the PTO/PTA works closely and amicably with the school and principal. Even so, there needs to some independence between the two organizations, and that's difficult if a key officer is a teacher whose boss is the principal of the school. Our own relationship was wonderful, but there were a few times as president that I had to take an agressive stand or an opposite opinion to that of the Principal. This would have been very difficult if I were also his employee. And that's in an IDEAL situation...
In a case where the Principal wants to run the PTO himself, what better way than having officers he can control?
In our school, the PRINCIPAL considers the idea a conflict of interest and would not favor a teacher running for office, even if our rules allowed it.
But as I said, some teacher/parents do serve as committee chairs.
Unfortunetly we don't require people to "join" the PTO. All staff, parents, grandparents and guardians are automatically members. So that idea wouldn't work. Thanks anyways. My husband is on the District Advisory Council (DCAC). I will have him ask at the next meeting if there is anything in the district employee handbook that says a staff member can't hold certain positions. It doesn't seem fair that parents can't run for their positions, but they can run for ours. What do we do when a staff member is a parent? We have 2 in place this year. Should they be considered staff or a parent first? This is the first year that either has even cared about PTO. And this is the last year that their children will be attending our school. Why didn't they get involved before? One of them jumped right in and became President even though she knew absolutely nothing. It kind of digs at me. I feel like you should earn the right for that position. Know all the ins and outs before you commit to it. Thats like Ross Peror running for President even though he had never been in politics before. LOL
Lisa,
Sounds like you're going to have to start at square one. Our middle school has a situation sort of like that where student council runs the fund raisers and then they vote on how to spend the money. Of course, it's really the parents that do the fundraising and I found it strange when I was told that parents were'nt privy to the budget. When I pointed out that it would be to their benefit to show us where the money was going, one was finally produced.
Back to your statement, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Well, you must feel that it's "broke" - because the children are the ones losing out. That's what you need to work on. Perhaps if you came up with specific ideas, they would see that, geez, there's only so much money, let's spend it on the kids! You could also point out that most organizations do have budgets. Not just PTO's/PTA's but churches, scout troops, etc. Budgets allow you to see what you can afford in the future and what your goals should be to get what you want. I will personally fundraise more, go the extra mile, if I have a cause I believe in.
Speak to the other parents ahead of time and tell them you intend to speak up - or maybe one of them would, if they're more articulate - and build a consensus among the parents. Not that you are trying to create conflict, but that you want the staff to know what is important to you. Sometimes you just have to speak frankly and put your cards on the table. "You know, I was looking at everything we've voted on this school year and I couldn't find anything for the kids." you can do it. Goooo LISA!
Kathie,
We do not have a budget. I tried to get one in place but was told that since it ain't broke, don't fix it. I also asked if we could bring that up for a vote to our general population but was told that since we didn't bring anything else to them, why should we on this. It's true that we have never asked them to vote on anything. I have wanted that to change for years. But it seems like I am always put out as the bad guy. It's very frustrating to say the least. I have considered just shutting my mouth and going with the flow, but I can't. Any suggestions?
Lisa,
It sounds to me like you don't have a budget. Is that right? For instance at our school we budget so much for field trips, technology, publishing center, Second grade reading club, etc. The teachers get $100 reimbursed (receipts must be handed in) for classroom items. Anything that is not budgeted that is over $200 has to be voted on by the general membership. Under $200 can be board approved. So if there is something expensive that one of the grades wants - like the portable science center we approved for the fourth grade- the teachers research the item and we bring it to the membership. Goodness, unless the staff is bringing in most of the fundraising money, why would they think they could spend it on anything except what your membership wants?
Have you tried saying, " Gosh, that seems like a lot of money. I would like to bring that to the membership at the next meeting to see if that's how they would like to spend the money they raised." Or, "I feel uncomfortable agreeing to spend that kind of money without getting an okay from the membership." If you don't speak up, you're going to feel that you didn't do the right thing- I think.....
