Thanks for the advice and the information.

see- I/m not a secretary for a reason- lots of TYPOS in the last post! :eek: :eek: :eek:

I don't know if you are a PTO or a PTA- but your by-laws should give you the answers to some of your questions.
Most by-laws state the minimum number of board meetings you are required to have per year nad the minimum number of general membership meetings per year, and what establishes a quorum (at both meetings).
Board meetings do not need to be open to the general membership(they are BOARD meetings). If you want to open them up- that is your decision.
Your genaeral membership meetings DO need to be advertised (in some way)- depending on your by-laws (again) most are 7-10 days prior.
Board meetings notice is not usually given in the by-laws- but check anyway to make sure you do not have "notice" number of days for that.
Most of the time it is a week. (I have mine on a monthly schedule- that tkes care of that).
Special meetings are defined as "extrodinary meetings not in the regular schedule. " I.e. if an issue in your area calls for a special discussion or emergency vote- you can call it. But it must be advertised (usually for 3 dAYS PRIOR) AND A QUORUM ESTABLISHED AT THE BEGINNING FOR ANY VOTES TO COUNT (THE QUORUM IS DEFINED IN YUR BY-LAWS).
As for your secretary sitiing in on your meetings with the principal- that is something YOU get to decide. These meetings are usually informal- no minutes need to be taken. You will take any notes you need to make. Now if your principal comes to your board meeting and makes a "state of the school: principal's report- that must be in the minutes.
It sounds like you need to have aprivate talk with your sevretary. Conventions are great, and there are reasons for set rules for jobs- but if your school is more informal- she may need to relax a bit. Let her know what your expectations are- do you want her in every committee mtg? (probably not...) do you want her to make your agendsas? etc.
By the same token- a good secretary can keep you "on task" if a meeting is getting off on a tangent.
BY talking with her- you and she will soon be working together and complementing each others' srengths.

Our secretary is a major rule follower, which is great, but i just wasn't sure if she was way to strict. She also mentioned that any time i meet with the principal she should be there to "take notes" mmm.. I am wondering where i could find the definations of a "special meeting", "general Meeting" and a "regular meeting"

Most of our brainstorming meetings were made on the back porch of the school with the principal and the treasurer. Until this year I rarely if ever called board meetings as my board only consisted of me, the vp, the treasurer, and principal(I counted her as part of us being as everything had to go through her). If there were any outcomes to those get togethers I would make minutes. This was also done when I was VP at another school. The minutes were then read at the general meeting. There were no secrets from our members.

I do believe special meeting refer to your general members. As courtesy you should do that with your board unless you can all meet at spur of the moment. I think the bylaws at the elementary state "10 days notice." I am not sure. That is just to ensure that everyone has a fair chance in making time to be there.

Help, We are all new board members, Our secretary came back from the convention stating that we are not allowed to meet without notifing our members. she says that this includes but is not limited, email notes to each other. Since we are a new board, we were going to get together to discuss fundraising, tentative budget, etc. if we contacted our member everytime we have an idea... well that just seems crazy. I read our bylaws and it says " special meetings may be called with three(3)day notices having been given" Again this would seem more like a voting/discussion meeting, not a brains storming meeting. Any ideas from anyone?