If your PTO has by-laws then they were probably voted on by the membership at the time of adoption. Do you still have a copy of the by-laws that were used last year? Do any other previous board members? If you can find a copy, look for the article that discusses how the by-laws may be amended. Give a copy to the current board members. Unless you can get a copy of the by-laws you used I don't know that you have much recourse. What's the point of having written by-laws if anyone can come in and write their own to suit their own purposes? A thought for the future...have a PTO binder that stays at the school with all the paperwork--by-laws, minutes of meetings, treasurer's forms, etc. This may help to keep this from happening again.

Another point to bring up is do they file the "yearly" bylaws with the state? We are Non-Profit and Incorporated. If we amend our bylaws we have to have them filed within 30 days of adopting with the Attorney Generals Office, have they done this every year? We just amended ours and the old ones were from 1993.

Our bylaws were written 7 years ago at the creation of the school and PTO and it is only this year we have ammended them. Bylaws, in my opinion, are specifics about terms limits, voting procedures, nomination and officer information and general operating procedure. Why would these be different from year to year?

I was on the board last year and we operated with the bylaws that were handed down from the prior year's board. I assumed this was how it was done. However, it's unclear what, if any, bylaws the current board is using. Requests for a copy of the bylaws have not been answered. When I questioned the president about some recent practices that were not sanctioned by the bylaws, I was told that those were the "old board's" bylaws and they would make their own. As far as I know, they have yet to do so. Doesn't that mean they should be operating with the existing bylaws? Help! This president and the minions she appointed (yes, APPOINTED) are out of control!