Sounds like good advice to me [img]smile.gif[/img] Much better than my idea of opening an anonymous email account and sending out a huge letter bashing PTO and the administration :)Or writing a letter to the editor of the paper calling for an investigation into how the district handles embezzlement.

We do not and have never held elections. Whoever wants to be president just steps forward, and so far no more than one person has ever stepped forward. That person is president for as long as she wants to be.

We are a fairly young school, only 6 years old. Our first president--the one who opposes anything that she didn't do--was there for 4 years and stepped down. She told me she was asked to step down by the principal, who is not our current principal, and the principal then hand-picked the person who was president last year and this year. We now have a new principal, who was vice-principal for the past two years. It was funny how she was hired: there was supposed to be a parent committee set up to advise, but everything was hush hush, very rushed, and done while we were out on break. Some of us parents were unhappy with this process, spoke up, and it was then that I decided nothing was going to happen at that school again that I didn't know about.

I had been minimally involved in PTO and offerred to be PTO president. I figured I couldn't do any worse than the current pres. I was told by the pres that she wanted one more year and then she would step down and I could take over. So it is implied that I will be pres next year. If she decides she wants yet another year, you can bet that there will be a call for elections. If she wins, I don't know what I'll do.

You're right, we should have pushed for the by-laws first. But I knew the issue of money was coming up, the pres had mentioned that she wanted the money disbursed by Christmas, so time was of the essence in financial matters. You should have seen her yesterday-- her fingers were just itching to get at that checkbook!

You definitely do need to tread lightly. Don't get the Prez and principal anymore stirred up then they already are.

When your group does fundraisers, do a great majority of your families participate? I'm not just talking about volunteering to organize and run the fundraiser, but supporting it by buying product, attending the event, etc. If they do, then they have a right to say how they want the money spent. That's how you approach people: Ask them if they supported the fundraisers, ask them how they would like to see the money spent, and ask them if they feel like they deserve a say in those financial decisions. Then invite them to the next meeting. Tell them that important financial decisions will be discussed and made and they should have a voice in that. If they start a deeper conversation, just casually mention some of your ideas and let them take it from there.

Keep a positive, friendly attitude and don't get into the negative issues with the group in any of your discussions. Catch those flies with honey not vinegar!

UUGH! Writermom I really feel for you. Your organization is a mess and facing all these problems starting with two major factors that you noted. One, no bylaws and two, no budget.

Every Parent Group needs by-laws. Without them it is a recipe for disaster. It also gives the people at the top the power to essentially do whatever they like since their are no guidelines.
This is what you should be pushing for the most. Without them your group has no foundation.

As for your financial situation...what you need more then a financial committee is a budget. Most groups have a budget in place at the begininning of the school year that is generally voted on at the first meeting of the year. Again without the budget, you see what your group is going through now deciding how to spend the money.

Also no spring activites planned! Most groups have their calendar planned by the time school kicks off. It really appears you have no leadership at all!

Okay...now that I know more about your group I am going to take back everything I said about biting your tongue and biding your time! LOL However, I would focus my attention in fighting for bylaws above all else. Once you have bylaws in place it will help to make all the other issues fall in place. At this point your group has nowhere else to go but down, so I feel like you have nothing to lose as it seems so out of control. Even if you can't get them to put bylaws in place the discussion will be out there and the masses will know you are gunning for the right thing. Then hopefully this ones term will be over and you can take over and get this group functioning properly.

Incidentally...without bylaws in place what are your board position terms? How do you handle nominations and elections? Are there elections every year?

It is very hard to be a champion of my PTO right now, after what happened at the meeting yesterday. It has been said that the PTO is only a tool of the administration: we make the money, they spend it. That is a widespread perception. And that perception was proven to be true yesterday. It was on the agenda, which was not sent out ahead of time even to board members, to discuss how we are going to spend the money we just raised. The principal and pres were ready to spend the money right then! Then my husband proposed setting up a financial committee to write a budget and advise the board on how to disburse the money. How can we decide how and what to spend if we don't have a budget?!? We don't even have any events planned for the spring at all. I planned to bring that up when it was my turn to give my report, but by then the meeting had run well over an hour and half the people were gone or were getting up to leave. And I was so disgusted with the pres and principal that I declined to make my report at this time. It is clear that no new ideas will be accepted this year. The best I think I can do is to put the breaks on spending.

Anyway, the pres and principal vehemently argued against a financial committee, as did the past pres, who wants everything done the way she did it and opposes anything else. At least we got them to call a meeting in January that will be widely publicized to discuss how we are going to handle the money, either give cash to the teachers, grants to the teachers, or form a financial committee. So my husband and I have decided to talk to as many people as we can and try to get support for the financial committee. My husband insisted that there be a vote (keep in mind that we have no by-laws, Robert's Rules are unheard of, and we have never had a vote on anything--we don't even have an election of officers!!) that night so there is still hope for the financial committee.

My problem now is that I want to spread the word about what went on at yesterday's meeting, but I am having a problem being anything but negative. People are right about the PTO, and I am disgusted and embarrassed to be a part of it. And to top it all of, the sec, who in private said she liked the idea of a financial committee, said NOTHING yesterday at the meeting. The treasurer was for it too and spoke out, but she was treated like "you're new, you don't really understand anything."

There is an entitlement attitude between the principal and pres about deciding who gets what piece of the financial pie and it sickens me. They complain that no one ever shows up to meetings, no one helps with anyone, so no one else should get to decide how the money is spent.

As for the missing money, it is apparently common knowledge but has never been acknowledged by the pres or administration. I would like to use that to support my arguments for a financial committee. Please--advise me on how to procede at this point. I know I have to tread lightly here.

We had a Principal that didn't like our exec. meetings...oh well! As far as the President cc'n the Principal, something smells funny there. Not sure what but something just isn't right.

A good solution would be to start having executive board meetings

I agree with you 100%. I think it is so important for the board members to get together to discuss everything, even if it is right before your regular meeting or after it. It also helps keep everyone on the same page and informed. However, again this will all hedge on the president and if she is willing to have executive board meetings and does she care what anyone has to say? Is this whole issue just between the Prez and the VP or is it between the Prez and the whole board?