Our board is split. We have two members that routinely ignore emails and requests for information. They will respond only when they feel like it. The president (one of the two) believes she has the power to do anything she wants to do without ever consulting the rest of the board. She has frequent private conversations with staff members that affect the group but she doesn't share them. She withholds information from the group, like the time the person leading a major fundraiser left the school, and we found out through the grapevine weeks later. If you question whether the group has the resources to take on a task (a fund raiser on 12hrs notice???) she accuses you of being negative and communicates even less. Kind of like a pouting child. The thing is, these folks will probably get re-elected because they have painted the rest of us as "negative" and difficult. At what point does practical and realistic, ("we don't have money in the bank for that" or "we don't have enough volunteers to do this") become negative?

@education first. Wow, this sounds exactly like our PTO. I wouldn't be surprised if we are in the same group

The treasurer is so dominate and controlling, most others won't say a word as they are belittled, shot down, etc. The president is a "yes" person and just agrees with everything, doesn't take any stances. Doesn't return calls, communicate and rambles in meetings with nothing getting accomplished. The board is not working as one and a mess and a lot are not happy.

BUT - it only takes one or two to speak up to get the ball rolling. At some point, someone will need to address the issues in your PTO. We recently addressed them at a meeting two months ago and it's caused some hard feelings - was taken very personally rather than listening to how people didn't like being talked down about everything, and that we all are on the board and have a say even if others don't agree. Reality is a couple peoples actions were hurting the board and their actions are reflection of the board as a whole and it has to be addressed. It's painful right now, as our treasurer seems to be on more of a power trip now than before, thank god elections are this spring

Our by-laws state that if an Executive Board Member does not come to two meetings consecutively then you have the right, as President, to replace them. I have not used the policy even though I could have but it does leave an option for getting more effective members in place.

What about if it's several people on the executive board? These women basically did not like that I as the president asked them to please step outside their titles if at all possible and help the others on the board who always end up doing all the work because of the nature of their position. One of them said that the comment was directed strictly towards her and she proceeded to insult me personally and that I was being instrumental in prohibiting the board from being phenomenal and from there it just went downhill. I managed to get the local council president to agree to meet with all of us so that we could talk it out, all of them always had an excuse and said that the meeting was a "set up" so it never happened. Now several weeks later things have not been working out with the school administration who is not so easy to work with and they basically say that they really don't feel like doing much anymore. Now it's difficult to get any of them to show up to volunteer or come to the meetings.

What if it isnt the PTO President but the Treasurer that is the one that is being a difficult member. We have a Treasurer that does not want to be a unified front but wants to run everything and not do the monthly budget on time, doesnt want to meet to discuss financial matters and gets very offended if you question anything involving money.

Our group had the same problem last year and it finally escalated to the point where the principal asked the board members to step down. Don't let it get to that point. It really hurt the PTO's credibility in the eyes of the teachers. Set up a meeting with your board and have a come to Jesus session- tell them they have too much as risk.