Question: Non Transitional Parent

I am one of the co presidents of this years PTO. The other co was last years vice president. and our current vp is last years co president. The idea was to learn from the vp this year as we transition into president roles. But the vp doesn't want to let go of her co president's role from last year. She makes decisions without consulting me or the the other co president(who is intimidated by her) .She writes out checks, has her name, the actual treasurer's name and a teacher liaison's name on the checking account. Recently, we had an incident where the teacher liaison's mom passed away suddenly, the vp was informed by our other teacher liaison and she told no one at first. She shared it with the co president and I found out from another parent. When asked she said that she didn't think too much about it but had ordered a fruit basket for the teacher. When asked to fill out the transition sheet for the many fundraisers that she heads up, she says that it's all in her head and she really can't write it down. She feels that she can take over anyone else's position or fundraiser activity and even spoke to me about how much paper I was using to send out info. to the parents,as she printed out a reminder about a fundraiser. I've spoken with the other co president and she seem to not want have a confrontation with her but just submit and complain later. I'm not the only one that feels this way, many of the other members and parents have come to me and voiced their concerns. I don't have a problem confront her but want your opinion on how to go about it.

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

bblake writes:
You might want to consider having a board meeting and discussing the different roles each position entails. And you should have a discussion about how money is disbursed - do you need to have a check request before a check is written, is there a dollar amount that requires more than one signature on the check request and/or check itself. have the meeting be informational and just "learning the ropes" for the new board members - even if it is just one member. See if you can work it all out through general discussion of how the PTO year is being planned out with the different activies and events and meetings. A discussion should also take place regarding committee reports prior, during and after the event has taken place. At least in the general meetings, you'll have a record(in the minutes) of what is being done and when even if the chair is not willing to write it down herself.