Thanks guys,
This has been very helpful and at least I have some resources to pull from. I am having problems with a board member who is undermining the "authority" within the presidents role. She does not agree with my partner and I making decisions without board approval...this is impossible to do and will become redundant and very irritating to all other members..how do I handle this?? We are obviously not making any type of decisions that are not good for the board as a whole..but on everything??? This seems ridiculous to me...the rest of our board agreed to this as long as it was for the betterment of the group. The board member that is questioning this was not at the meeting where this was agreed on...I am very confused and frankly, it is setting a tone before the year has even begun!! Thanks for all the advice and comments..this site is a great place for new memebers!!
I appreciate all of you!

Long-term planning for Development
Developing and maintaining relations with others
Promoting within and beyond.
Building membership.
Reaching out to others through joint and cooperative activities.
Maintaining communications with members by using, maintaining and developing e-mail lists, the list serve, the website and the newsletter c
Representing the board and by maintaining contacts with beneficials.
Helping the secretary-treasurer prepare the annual budget.
Communicating with the Board, other officers, and committee heads to maintain good communication and make sure that regular operations are in order.
Helping prepare the President-Elect to assume the Presidency.

The President is the chief executive officer and has the primary responsibility for overseeing the direction and the operations. The President presides over Board of Directors that acts as the policy-making organ and advises the President on all important matters concerning policy and functioning.

Ours:

President shall:
· Preside over meetings
· Set meeting agendas
· Hear agenda requests
· Serve as spokesperson
· Oversee official communications (newsletter, e-group, and web site)
· Serve as liaison with administration
· Oversee all fund raisers and events, assuring they are in line with mission, policy, and objectives
· Have authority to enter into contracts on behalf of Cape Elementary PTO, Inc.
· Serve on budget committee
· Hear requests for disbursement of funds (including 'Wish List' requests)
· Create committees as deemed necessary to accomplish objectives

We got going last year but had a bad year organization wise. I don't think any of us knew what we were supposed to be doing!!!

This year to gt us started off right I printed off a lot of PTA tools. One of them is a HUGE reference book and it clearly outlines the duties of each office (except VP.)

I found the manual online in PDF format but you can get the description for President here: www.capta.org/sections/management/president.cfm I think the entire manual was a tool kit on the CA PTA website.

To start off I divided duties like this:

President
Programs & Volunteers

Vice-President
Ways/ Means & Communications

Treasurer- $$ matters

Secretary (Historian duties plus secretarian duties)

Then I went on to divide the areas that we need to plan/ organize so that they fell logically into duties for the President or VP.

I wrote up an agenda for our next meeting and distributed it. (Something that was never done last year.)

I have a VP report written covering the PTO tasks that I have been completing and/ or are in progress. (Another thing that wasn't done, no one gave reports. We simply came and discussed things with no order and no rhyme or reason.)

If there were other PTO board members I would split them up and divide the duties further. As it is we have 3 of us running the whole PTO right now.

I hope this helps!!

This is a tough question to answer because the official definition and the practical application are so different from each other. It's been addressed on other posts so doing a search might help you too.

Officially, your bylaws define each officers role. They're there for a reason and should be followed. However, there is a large grey area left for each of us to define on our own. Here's how I answered another inquiry:

President's Job = Anything and Everything.

My group's bylaws say:


quote:

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The president shall preside at all PTO Board meetings. The President is an ex-officio member of all committees, except the Nominations Committee. The President shall appoint all committees and shall designate a chairman of such committees subject to Board approval.

---

It's that 'ex-officio member' part that kills!!! Also, even though you're only one vote, you are the leader of the team and everyone else will look to you for leadership and direction. What kind of (and how much) leaderhsip and direction you provide depends entirely on your management style and the makeup of your group.

AND

OK, serious answers......

I'll start from the beginning of the term (July 1) and go through the school year.

-Set year's monthly meeting schedule
-Talk to principal about recruiting teacher reps
-Fill out personal calendar (school calendar, PTO activities, by-laws review year?, School Board election year?, nominations committee, etc.)
-Review/Update Policies and Procedures guide
-Prepare/mail Welcome Packets for board members
-Talk with new board members
-Meet with principal regarding goals/activities
-Manage Registration activities
-Speak at Newcomer's Welcome and Q&A time
-Maintain PTO's bulletin board
-Set monthly meeting agendas
-Email meeting reminders
-Preside over meetings
-Email monthly reminder of newsletter submission deadline
-Attend committee meetings as needed/as invited
-Guide committee chairs as needed
-Review all PTO print items (mass mailings to parents and/or teachers, newsletter submissions, press releases, school website postings)
-Oversee the big picture (committee overlap, schedules, conflicts of interest)

There are probably plenty of other things that just aren't occuring to me right now. So much of it becomes second nature that it's sort of like remembering to breath. You just do it.....

Check out the thread started 6/20/06 by 3strongitkes:

Message Boards: Involvement Ideas and Challenges: Presidential Duties???