I agree with Pres88. Try not to take on more issues than you can handle at once.

I wouldn't have a problem with the husband and wife team IF you were having regular meetings and were voting on issues after discussion. We have "open board meetings" but it is usually only the board members who attend. On most important issues we try and discuss them in board meetings and come to an agreement. This isn't to keep other members at large from making decisions, but is to keep the discussion at general membership meetings to a minimum.

Be careful about thinking that she has some ulterior motive. She may just be used to running things her way because there hasn't been reliable help before now. I think that most of the time people are helping out in the PTO because they genuinly care about the kids and the school, but sometimes people get very "attached" to the power.

You absolutely must have a budget. I would bring it up at the regular meeting and say that you are working on one and as for help from the board and/or membership. Then have it ready to present at the next meeting to be voted on.

Pick your battles! This one seems to be the biggest issue right now. If you have a budget, you can control the things like printing costs. As the treasurer you absolutely have the right (and the responsibility) to questions expenses!

Keep your chin up and don't give up!

I guess I have to jump in here. First off, As far as husband and wife serving on the board, if they are both elected then what can be wrong, the people have spoken. As far as the previous poster stated starting a PTA, I strong vote against this, no one wants 2 organizations fighting it out, this is truely not in the best interest of the students. I feel a budget is a must, how much to spend on field trips, performances, supplies, purchases and the like and also how much fund raising is needed to meet this budget. As far as by law changes, PTO is not required to change them but in ours, the change must me announced and advertised so that parents can vote on it if they like. As far as phone votes, we try not to do this, only in an emegency but they only thing the board can approve is up to $500 beyond that we need a vote at a meeting.

Stick with PTO, take it one task at a time, if you try to do too much at once it will not work.

Good luck

If she is not open for discussion on making a budget for your organization I would then brong it to the floor and make a motion that the Organization gt a budget in place that must be approved by membership. Remember she is not playing by the rules and taking advantage that no one has called her on anything and that no one may actually know what the rules are. BUT>>>this could be to your advantage. Make a motion on the floor at the general membership mtg, bring your facts with you so you can present them when questions arise. Such as we spent 1000 on project a which only resulted in 200 profit and benefited only 1grade of students. As far amending the bylaws, she could not do that by herself, she woudl have needed a membership vote approval. I'm not sure how PTO works but PTA's have to have their bylaws updated every 3 years and they must be approved by general mebership and NYS also. We can ammend the current bylaws 3 times while they are in effect. Sounds like someone (maybe it is going to be you) is going to have to educate the membership on what is going on and what they are entitled to know and have information on....You may be lonely at first, but that won't last people will join by your side once it becomes clear what si going on---From what you write it sounds like this PTO is a mess finacially, and in the communication areas also..Maybe a good time for another organization to ump in and start up (PTA). You can have a PTA and a PTO in the same school. By offering the choice people will have a choice, and since this woman and basically her exec board are allowing this mess to go on, people may actaully move on to a place where they feel that thier opinions are valued and wanted. best of luck to you..oh yeah- this woman must have become real popluar when she amended the bylaws to exclude school people from holding an Exec Board decision. I am so glad we are an inclusive membership. I wish a teacher would challenge her on that, and threaten with a lawsuit for discrimination. That ought to change her views.

Thank you for replying. Our checks do require two signatures for safety and precautionary reasons. So she has been charging the copies and I get the bill since I am the treasurer. She had the bylaws ammended at the end of the school year last year so that no-one who works for the school can hold an office in the PTO because she felt that was a conflict of interest (which I don't understand because aren't we all doing this for the betterment of our school? and who would know more about helping better the school than someone who works for the school?). Then she turns around and believes it is ok for her and her husband to both serve at the same time. I don't think our bylaws state anything about phone voting...our bylaws are more or less a joke. But I still feel that every officer should have been notified and given an opportunity to voice an opinion before she took a majority vote. As far as budgetting anything...that doesn't happen here. I have brought up the fact that we haven't budgeted spending for UIL concessions and other activities. Her response basically is that it hasn't ever been done in the past so why do we need to do it now? I strongly support budgeting so that we don't spend $1000 on something that is only going to earn us $500 in return. I have asked repeatedly about having a meeting to discuss these issues and she pretty much just blows me off. I will know more after I talk to the school administration today and will decide how to proceed from there. Thanks!

Stand Tall--It will be hard, but you will prevail...
As far as her and her husband both being officers, i don't think there is anything wrong woth that. I am President of the PTA and we are an inclusive membership. An exec board memeber doesn't even have to have a kid in our school to get elected. As far as school propert being used. The administration of the school has the final say on how and when their building will be used. I have heard of some schools asking for PTA/PTo to provide the paper and they provide the copying svcs for free. This is ok as far as I know. It is a great svc the school provides, however she may be having a problem with the principal. Usually the principal/administration has the final say in what can go home with the children from a PTA/PTO (being sent home in the school bag). Maybe the principal is not approving what she wants done. Or playing devils advocate there i something fishy going on with the $$ money. Is anybody actaully seeing what is being sent out with the students or is just a receipt being presented. Do you have a budget line for administration costs (copies, budgets etc) is she getting close to going over it, if so she usally can't go over without memberships approval. If she is under then she is just being wasteful. Per our NYS bylaws phone votes are illegal. If a special mtg is required for a vote by the Exec Board. At least 24hrs notice must be given to each Exec Board member. If there is no noticeiven the mtg cannot be held which in turn means no vote. Now on membership votes, if it is an unannounced vote-meaning membership or people in attendance were not told that there was going tobe a vote then we need 2/3 majoroity vote from our totla membership. BUT if an announcement went out (usually we send home and post a flyer) to our membership then we can go woth majority rules when the mtg takes place.
As far as her threatening you..i'd tell her to take a hike and what are you afraid of--Sounds like she is hiding something- My $$ is that something fishy is going on...I'd watch the books big time if I were you and verify receipts. I also make the recommendation if not already being done that 2 signatures are required on all checks..I would definelty let the other Exec Board memebers know what is going on at all times.

I am a new officer of my children's Elementary school PTO this year. This is my second year to be involved in the PTO. I have several serious issues involving the actions of our President and don't know how to correct these problems. I have called her to discuss these issues and she refuses to change anything. The first issue I have is that she and her husband are both serving as officers at the same time. I (along with others who will not confront the situation) feel that this is wrong and is a conflict of interests. When she needs a majority vote from the officers she already has 2 votes since she and her husband are both officers. Another issue I have is her spending money on making copies of notes to send home with school children for various PTO activities when we provide paper for the school to do this and they will do it for us for free. She now claims that we can get into trouble for using school property--but we use their library for meetings, and their property during our fundraisers and this is ok? She has now decided on her own that all copies of notes have to be made off campus at PTO expense. I am going to the principle and if necessary the superintendent tomorrow to make sure that the school doesn't have an issue with it and it's just her saying this. (She has spent $120 on copies over the past month and I feel that is wasteful expenditure of PTO funds that could be spent to better our school.) Another issue I have is that she will call and say she needs a yes or no vote from me on some issue then I find out later that once she has her majority vote of 4--there are 7 officers total---then she doesn't even bother to let the other officers know what is going on or give them a chance to voice their opinion. To date, we have only had one officer's meeting and one regular PTO meeting. And many things that are being done now were not fully discussed in those meetings. And she has now threatened me that "she better not hear that I talked to anyone else about these issues." Well, I have been talking to another officer who has been involved more to get her input on the situation. And our President certainly talks to her husband about this so is she not talking to someone else? I am just very upset and furious that she tried to threaten me in this way and she refuses to address these issues properly and allow the PTO as a whole to make decisions. She wants to do it her way...no matter what anyone else thinks apparently and that's why I am not supposed to talk to another officer about these issues I guess. Does anyone have any suggestions. I have thought about quitting PTO involvement until next year when she isn't the President but I will not give in and let her have her way. Evidently I am the only one who will stand up to her on issues that I think are important. I need advice and suggestions from anyone who can help. Thanks!