It is so sad to hear these types of stories. Many people tend to forget that we are all volunteers helping to better our schools. I wish you the best of luck.

My advice to you would be to go to the principal and tell them what happened. Don't let this incident keep you from being active in the school.

I too recently moved to a small town and wanted to become involved in PTO. My problem, however, has been a little different. I was the only parent to show up to the mtgs. My first year was spent being "guided" by the principal.Since I was new to the school and community, I had to take his word on many subjects. I soon learned that there was another side to much of what he had told me. Throughout the year I made new friends and contacts in the community. When the second year started for me, I had recruited other parents and now have a collective voice for the PTO not just what the principal wants to see happen. My advice to you is there is strength in numbers. Obviously the group sees you as an outsider and one person is easier to push around than several. Round up some other parents who may be interested in attending meetings and express your concerns. It's not nearly as easy to turn down a group of people. Good luck

I just recently moved to a small town from a big town, and have been involved for 12 years in PTSA/PTA, not any PTO's. My most recent school experience before here, I was VP of a middle school PTSA and when we moved here the end of April, 2006, I came with very good recommendations. I have several health issues, Fibromyalgia, Parkinsons and MS, but have been dealing with 2 of these for many years and have good days and bad days. This year has been no exception as I had a very bad reaction to some new medication in June and it took nearly 3 weeks to figure it out and I almost died from it. I am still getting my strength back but am a hard worker, especially where my kids are concerned. I was approached in May, 2006 about would I take the seat of Secretary of my youngest daughter's middle school PTO, and gladly accepted, and explained that I have health issues but will give it 110%. They gladly accepted me, or so I thought, and said they were glad to have someone with some experience, as this was only their first year and they needed guidance. I was thrilled! This is a smaller, better school than where we moved from, and we bought a home, so we are here permanently. The president of the PTO made up a set of by-laws and got them passed by her little group and the principal, before I even had a chance to read them. The president will call a meeting of the board on a whim, literally. She will call you Monday evening and say we are meeting Tuesday morning at 8am. Well, I cannot always attend due to drs. visits and other previous engagements. The previous 12 yrs. experience, we always had monthly meetings and planned them ahead so everyone knew about them and could plan to be there, not the case here. Because I could not attend 3 of those spur of the moment meetings, I called and left the president a message and told her she was going to have to plan these ahead and give me a little notice and it would be no problem, I could schedule my appts. around those dates. Well, I received a letter from the PTO president saying since I could not attend the meetings/functions and they could not be planned because things came up at the last minute, then they had voted at the last spur of the moment meeting that I was no longer suited for the position of Secretary, but they would be happy for me to volunteer wherever I feel like I could fit in. Is this legal? I don't feel like anything about this so called PTO is legal, I think it's a bunch of people who want to be in charge and I just don't fit into their little group but they are using the PTO name to gain attention to themselves. I'm not being petty, I'm hurt because I'm trying and if things were just a little organized and planned, I'd be at every meeting. Any help/advice would be most appreciated! Thank you all!