Thanks for your advice. Tomorrow I will call our state office and find out if they ever received our bylaws and just what our status is. Then we will proceed from there.
Except for the sneaky and angry part, I agree a bit with MichelleB.
Why not just follow the bylaws you've been running under? The big question isn't what bylaws has state PTA approved. The question is what set of rules have you been running under as a local group.
Certainly, if state PTA starts giving you a hard time, etc. -- then by all means feel free to give the hard time right back. But I don't see a need to do that right off the top.
For most groups, the move happens without too much rigamarole.
Good luck,
Tim
PS -- Yes, I think the group that requires you to submit bylaws for approval should provide acknowledgement of that approval.
Although it may be a possiblity in some schools that someone received the notice, our school and board are small--no one ever received anything. As for the school having received it, we have a very good relationship with our office staff and they always put any information pertaining to the PTA into our mailbox (which was checked faithfully by our President.) I am sorry that you think we are trying to be sneaky or dishonest here. Our PTA board last year had to redo our bylaws because the old ones had expired (they were from '98, I believe). Our president last year was brand new to PTA because no one else would take the job. She was told that the bylaws needed to be resubmitted for approval because they had expired (I think I read somewhere that they are only good for five years.) Don't you think that someone who requires you to take your time to redo your bylaws and 'submit them for approval' owes you the courtesy of acknowledging the receipt of those bylaws and their 'approval'? We have heard nothing. I'm just curious about procedure here.
It is distinctly possible they were sent to someone at the school or to another board member and probably has them somewhere in their stuff. As for abiding by your bylaws, unless you were notified that they were not accepted, how could you plead they were not in effect. You've operated under them for how long? You also paid your dues and operated as a PTA. There are plenty of sneaky ways of disbanding your PTA all over this website but do what conscience tells you. You're not going to be arrested or anything else like that if you don't do it by your bylaws. PTA doesn't hold any real power over you. It's up to you and your membership if you want to do it honestly. But in the same regard, remember as your build your new bylaws, that anyone can disregard them if the situation suits. So why bother at all. I don't know the circumstances as to why you are disbanding, and I don't really care. If I seem angry it's not because your disbanding (that may be the best thing for your group, I am proud to be a member of PTA but it's what's right for me) but that you're contemplating doing it in a sneaky, dishonest way. Just because there are not immediate consequences or that they cannot prove you're lying, doesn't mean it's not a lie.
I have far more respect for people who are upfront and honest.
Our board wants to become a PTO. Last year we resubmitted our bylaws because our previous bylaws had expired. We sent in the bylaws to the state office, but never received a notice that they had been approved. We paid dues and operated as a PTA last year. My question is, how do we know if we are bound by these bylaws since we never received confirmation of their approval? We are hoping they were lost or something, but if we call and ask about it--someone may start looking for them. Should we abide by the bylaws in our disbanding process? Or do we act under the assumption that they do not exist pleading ignorance?
