Our school district does not allow teachers to serve in board positions having to do with signing checks. Otherwise, they can serve on board.
Our check signers are the Pres, VP, Treasurer and Financial Secretary, so those positions are off-limits to teachers & staff.
Our bylaws do not prevent teachers or staff members from serving on board. We do have 2 teacher liaisons, our principal is the advisor and we also have a staff member doing our newsletter.
We are looking at a shortage of parent board members for next year, and I wouldn't want to put anything in the bylaws prohibiting teachers and staff members from taking seats on the board.
In California, the corporations code says a non-profit, public benefit group must have at least a President, Secretary and Treasurer. Next year, our secretary position will be vacant, and so far, no one (parent) has volunteered for the position. If a teacher or staff member wants to come on board as the secretary, it is perfectly within our bylaws for her/him to do so, and the school district restrictions would not apply to the secretary's position.
WE have a different situation, where the school is a private for profit school. The PTO is non-profit, so we really can't have teachers/owners on the board.
For our elementary PTO, we have a huge board that includes 4 school positions (Principal, V-Prin, 2 teachers). On that one, school staff can't serve as any of the 5 officer positions, but they can be on the Board in other positions (beyond the 4) by being a committee chair or volunteer coordinator or such..
For middle school PTO, we have no such rule. We've had school staff be president several times and it worked out very well. Note - they were also parents at the time.
But this one sounds primarily about personalities. Anyone can have a bias. If you had this situation and the parent consistently tried to push programs through for the younger children because she had a Kindergartner, would you want to re-write the bylaws so no kindergarten parents could serve?
I agree it depends on the person. You can always have a controlling person or one who lets their own interests get in the way. If the group is a Parent Teacher Organization, then the teachers deserve to be involved. You might decided to set some limits (as long as other opportunities are open), but don't do it in reaction to a single problem.
You are all right- not all staff are of the same mindset. My children's school has always been plague with cliques and anti-parent attitudes. The last teacher to serve was our Treasurer last year and she did a great job despite being pregnant. So, I guess my point is that those whose goals are notto help the organization, but to make a name for themselves should not run for PTO. It is not a popularity contest. Thanks for the advice, and if I lose the election that's upcoming I definitely will demand bylaws are instilled and monitored closely. Thanks!
You definitely need someone to make it a priority to get those by-laws in place and someone to see to it that they are followed. They would cover your hiney in just such situations.
I agree with mykidsmom, not all teachers are created the same......
Staff can serve as a V.P. & Secretary per the by-laws. It's the pres. responsibility to open bank statements to make sure it matches with the treas. report. If they won't give one, what are they trying to hide. Since the principal is useless, go to the superintendent. Good luck!
