Hi Michele, your second post raised a situation that I am a huge proponent of, the possibility of having both. I agree, this is the ideal world and if there are parents who would not want to dissolve, it is possible to have both. I am not joined in this position, not by many on these boards anyway, but I have heard support from both "camps" at a local level and from quite a few friends across the country.
I like the idea of giving parents a choice and although some may disagree, I can only see it as a way to broaden parent involvement by giving broader choices. (Although, I don't think Tim's assertion that 75% of groups are independent since that number includes schools that may not have any parent group at all- which in this district at least is not a small percentage)
As for your responsibility, there is little that is legally enforceable, there are several reasons why this could be a bad or even a good idea. Tim and others have touched on the bad (and I agree with some of it) But I did have a unit that did just that two years ago, informed the state that there was no board and they were dark. They existed as a PTO for one year until I received a phone call about how they could come back. Since they hadn't officially dissolved, we ignored the previous year and basically picked up where they left off with us. We didn't have to go through the hassle of rechartering them as we have done with three of our other schools.
That is a good side to the "we are going dark" method. Not that I think it's the right thing to do, but it can make it easier if for any reasons you decided to come back.
I won't make any excuses for what or why your state has pissed you off. There are numerous reasons why they might not have been helpful but I won't speculate. But it does make me a bit sad to hear that this is the reason why you want to dissolve. PTA is so much more than a few of it's volunteers (which the majority of state officers are) and people make mistakes. I am fortunate to be in a very active supportive state PTA and a part of that support group (sometimes a little more than I would like to be because I am soooo BUSY! [img]smile.gif[/img]
And I know what it's like when it's good.
Whatever the situation, I hope that whatever you do works best for your school's children. It is the reason why any of us do this, right?
Seems kind of like a two-part question, michele4u.
It's certainly possible for your entire board to resign. And it's certainly possible for anyone -- but especially 4 or 6 people with experience running a parent group -- to start a PTO.
But after "is it possib;e?" it seems there's also "is this the way to go?"
I'd say: probably not.
If your entire board feels this way about switching to PTA, then I'm wagering you could make a pretty persuasive case to your membership. You could try that. I just suspect that there will be fewer questions and less confusion in doing it that way.
That said -- if you think (90%+) that you're heading PTO, then there's good reason to start your PTO officially -- and start using the PTO name as the out-front "parent group" for your school -- now. There's nothing that says you can't have the PTO started before the PTA is officially disbanded. In fact, I recommend that.
If you're really hacked off at the state PTA for some reason and you really want to just cancel the PTA (without going through any wind-down procedures) and start a PTO, would you get in trouble? Probably not, especially if you spent the PTA budget down to zero first. But I think folks overestimate the difficulty of getting out within the rules. Discuss it, spend down the funds, take a vote -- you're out. (I think requirements to have state PTA speak are virtually unenforceable)
Conclusion: if you want out, get out. More than 75% of groups are now independent; it's not some radical move. But try it first by making the couple of correct steps that keep you out of any potential confusing mess.
If we tell our community we don't want to do the PTA because of specific reasons. And we as parents felt the PTO was a better choice. This way if there are parents out there that don't want to disband, and want to take over the PTA, we can have both. Don't think that will happen, but you never know. Either way, the people will have the oportunity to make up their own minds. If it comes to that. What responsibility do we actually have to the PTA, they haven't helped us when we asked them for help.
Do you mean just have everyone resign and leave the unit inactive, not actually dissolve it?
If that's what you mean, off the top of my head I would think that may not be the way to go. My guess is that since no one is in charge to oversee the disposition of the assets, the state would step in and try to take them over. You can have both the PTA and PTO going at the same time (see Tim's notes about the NY PTA unit about having money go in to PTO and out of PTA, as a good example); better to have officers in place to have an orderly dissolution.
