You don't want to ask teachers to do more than they are already doing, but you are forgetting that this is a volunteer position. Times change and roles and responsibilities must change with that as well. If they don't want to take on that much responsibility, they don't have to run for the position. If your PTO event schedule is based upon the teachers availability, then it does negatively affect the PTO. We have many families that look forward to the occasional Saturday event since they get home too late from work to come to after school events or some Friday night events. You still may want to consider having teachers in the less critical roles so you can grow as a PTO. Also, don't you have two signatures required on your checks? No matter who is the Treasurer, having 2 signatures keeps the odds of something happening to a minimum.

In our PTO, we actually have a group of parents on our "office help" committee. They are responsible for duplicating all our PTO memos and distributing them to the teachers. They are moms with only a little free time, but want to make a contribution in some way. It's worked out well for the last 2 years. Just an idea.

Well, not sure if it is too late for this or not, but this coming year I wanted some of the positions to take on added responsibilities, just as what you are looking for from the Secretary.

So prior to the elections I wrote up a "job summary" of all positions. I e-mailed them to all of the active members and passed them out at the PTO meeting. This way, if someone steps up and runs for a position and gets elected, when I ask them to perform the responsibility that I outlined they can't have any issues, or at least shouldn't.

It sounds as though you have already held your elections, so this may not work. Maybe you could add a new position at your next meeting. For example, Clerk. This could be a person responsible for all of these extra Secretarial responsibilities that you are looking for. If you have a parent willing to take this on then perfect. It's effectively having the Secretary job shared, but calling it something different.

Anyway, good luck,
PresidentJim

THANK YOU everyone for you great responses! Most of your comments about the treasurer are the same reasons that I posted my message. The one thing to consider that obviously you all don't realize, is that I have been a part of this school since 2000 when my son was in kindergarten (I was not very involved at that time because my twin girls were infants). This current treasurer has been doing the position since then, so it isn't a new thing. I understand why the "safe" comment raises flags and yes it was the Principal's idea, or at least I think she and the teachers all agree with it, but it is a precotionary thing not because of something that has gone wrong with a parent. I don't think they know what it is like to have a parent doing the job because it has always been this way. Again, one of their reasons is that he is always available to get checks to people quickly and to answer one of your notes he does make himself available at all events and gets all the singles and change that we need, he is a very involved teacher, and we do not have any events on Saturdays because our principal will not make teachers come in on weekends, so it is Fridays only. About the Secretary position, you are right in that it isn't a BIG job, the only thing he does is take minutes and submitt them to me, but I would like to have the secretary do more things such as get flyers ready for the different events and possible do up a newsletter once a quarter, and that is were I have an issue because I don't feel write about asking a teacher to do more work than they already do, make sense? Don't get me wrong in the least I DO NOT want to take the "T" out of PTO, in fact I would love to see more of our teacher get involved as these 2 are the only ones that attend our meetings regularly and really are involved! And I did already suggest that we have a co-secretary and co-treasurer that are parents so that we as parents would have someone to call on to do the tasks that we don't want to burden teachers with. I hope this clarifies my position a little more, but I DO appreciate the feedback and would love to hear your thoughts again! Thank you!

A teacher holding a major position on the PTO such as Treasurer seems odd. They are not usually available evenings and weekends when many of your events occur. Our Treasurer attends all our events, drops off the cash boxes, makes sure that there is enough singles & change throughout the evening, etc. Does this teacher make himself available not only during school hours but any other times as well?
Not sure what your secretary is responsible for, but it shouldn't be so much that a teacher could not accomplish the job. What are the duties you find it difficult for her to handle? Is it so much that you need to create another secretary position? We have a corresponding secretary (handling mail, voicemail messages, creating our newletter) and the recording secretary (minutes of the meetings & volunteer log book)

I agree, the idea that the money is "safe" because the Treasurer is a teacher seems a stretch to me. Who stated this, the Principal maybe? If so that throws up a red flag.

But, I don't see any problems with a teacher or two stepping up to take on some of the officer roles, as long as it doesn't go too far. I would never wish to see the "P" starting to disappear from "PTO". One sollution might be to see if there are any parents willing to take these roles on and see about having them as co-positions. That way the busy schedule of the one Secretary won't be as much of an issue.

Also, what kinds of things do you have your Secretary do? IMO the Secretary position is one of the easiest officer positions. The Secretary for my group takes notes at the meetings, writes up the minutes and sends them to me, I look them over and then forward them on to the group. I've added the responsibility of maintaining an up to date contact list for next year, but even that isn't too much.

Let us know.

PresidentJim

We are a PTA that finally has teachers on the board and frankly we are delighted to have the "T" back in PTA.
However, one of those teachers is also our Secretary and we are also facing this issue. The proposed solution has been that she will attend the 4 general meetings we plan to have during the year (as required by PTA), and any other meetings that we have that she cannot attend someone else will take notes and pass them to her. She will also be responsible for preparing a monthly report that will be presented at the school SAC meetings-our meetings are combined-and that will be that. It sounds good in theory, we'll see how it actually works when school starts.
As far as Treasurer goes there is a rule, don't know if it's District, School or just one of those unwritten rules, that a teacher may not serve as Treasurer or be involved in handling our money. This arose this year also since Treasurer is our hardest slot to fill and there was a teacher willing to take on the job; we did finally find a parent who agreed to do it.
I would be very uncomfortable if the reason for having a teacher serve as Treasurer was to keep the money "safe". PTA is meant to operate separately from the school and while most teachers would probably be fine in this position, having this presented as the main reason right up front would make me worry about why it was an issue.