Per our Bylaws, our Board consists of

*Elected Officers (6)
Pres, VP, Treas, Sec, Parliamentarian, Past Pres

*Chairs of Standing Committees (Appointed)
Community Relations, Fund-Raising, Hospitality, Membership, Publicity, T-shirt, Volunteer

*School Reps
Principal, Vice Principal, 2 Teacher Reps

Plus the Board may "appoint additional positions as needed"

At our first meeting each year, we add the chairs of an any hoc committees (6-8) and one parent representative from each grade level (6)

*******

We intentionally have a large Board of 25+, depending on how many positions are co-chaired. In our group, all business is transacted by the PTO Board each month, and General Meetings are only held twice a year. So we want a large, diverse membership on our Board. Everyone on it has a constructive role and responsibility, even if it's a small one.

With as many kindergarten moms as you have interested, you might want to form grade level committees (i.e., Kindergarten Parent Committee) that meet to work on areas of interest for that group. They could do quite a bit themselves on organizing volunteers, helping with parties/fieldtrips, seeking resources, etc.) Then that committee would have a chair/coordinator (or two) that would serve as reps on the Board. That way you are utilizing everyone's willingness to help with out bringing it all to the Board level, leaving the Board to serve the high-level management function.

Note-some of these people will probably do double-duty and end up on the Board anyway as Chairs of other types of Committees - if those positions are on your Board.
Good Luck!

[ 01-09-2003: Message edited by: JHB ]</p>

We have nominations and elections. Of course, there is usually only one person for each spot so we just approve the slate as a whole. this year our school expanded so we expanded the board. We opened every position as a "co" except the President. We then took every program and event we have and made committee positions. The board was elected but the committee chair positions were filled by volunteer. It gave a lot of people a chance to take a little piece of the pie so they wouldn't feel overwhelmed and it provided plenty of slots so no one would feel left out. It worked out really well and has certainly made the year go smoother so far. Last year I had to jump into several things when people who had taken on too much couldn't get the job done. Not the way a President likes her year to go! If you decide to go the election route, you should come up with a formal slate of officers and their duties and then develop a nomination and election structure. We have all of this in our Constitution and By-laws.

Our PTO this year sent out PTO membership forms, on them you could selec to be a member of the Board. That is how I came to be on the board. However, at each meeting we are noticing several board members missing. Also, there seems to be only a few willing to do what is required ie. chair a fundraiser, help with the fundraisers, etc. I was wondering what other PTO's do to select their board. Are they elected as the officers are or just selected as a class representative or grade representative? That is how they had planned to do it this year but with 10 Kindergarten classes and 20 Kindergarten mom's willing to serve (that number has dwindled to 3)and only 1 mom from fourth grade they didn't want to discount anyone. However, we are seeing that the board really needs to be more of the truly dedicated and available members. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. [img]smile.gif[/img]