Nominating committee comes back with one name for each position. At the annual meeting, the names are announced. The nominees are asked if they agree to serve in the position if elected.
Nominations from the floor are invited. If no further nominations from the floor, then the person selected by the Nominating committee is the elected officer.
If there are nominations from the floor, then the officer is elected by ballot vote. Only paid members get to vote. Votes are secret. They are collected and tallied at the meeting. The results are announced at the meeting.
You can install the same night or have an Installation Ceremony on a designated night.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for all the interesting information folks. I am heading a nominations committee for the first time - we are a new school. We plan on calling all those folks who were nominated to check if they would like to take the position, then make up nomination forms and have these available at the General Membership meeting. Folks will have a few minutes to talk if they would like. The nominations committee consists of myself (on the Board) and 3 PTO members who are not Board members. We will count the votes on the night, the newbies can attend the May PTO meeting and then take over in June. It will be an interesting time for all.
OH! And before the vote, each person gets 5 minutes to speak about why they should be voted in. This is followed by a "open forum" so that questions can be asked by the membership body.
In a perfect world, there would be a well run, extremely organized to perfection PTO/PTA that has all the necessary committees, the perfect bylaws, and so many parents ready to step up to the plate...lol...
This is not a perfect world...lol...
When I took over last April, I thought that if I did it right, there would be more than just one or two people who would want to step up to the plate at this year's election. We do not have a nominating committee. We do not have a dozen Board (or bored as the case may be) Members. We have 4 Officers who have worked hard this year to make it look easy. Nominations proved that. We have several nominees for each position, and expect to have a couple more at our April meeting before we take the vote (we vote for President at our April meeting and vote for the other three positions, VP, Treasurer and Secretary, in May). Ours is a ballot vote at the meetings. We put the names of those who accepted nominations the month before and then 3 places for last minute nominees. The votes are tabulated by an uninterested party (school's Office Manager), one parent, and one Officer not in that election (President can count for Treasurer but not president, Secretary can count ballots for VP, but not secretary...). It works for us.
In our by-laws we have written that the nominating committee will decide who will get the position by voting. We felt the public voting would be too embarrassing for some people. The president has to of been on the board before. Any other position then is open to any committee head. If no one wants the positions then we start asking everyone. We have never had to vote. If there is a position open we just ask the person to take that one.
I think you need to just take a vote... let the parents decide who their officers should be. In my school there is an officer who assumes she will be elected president.. if it is left up to the other parents she will not be elected. People have a good sense of character. Putting people through an interview process.. does not seem like a good idea, this is volunteer work.
Take all nominations and have a meeting that alot of parents can attend.. and have a good ole fashion vote! The school belongs to the kids and parents.. Let the parents choose.
