Question: Is an election needed?

I am the teacher representative on our PTO, which is at a low income school where many parents do not understand what a PTO is. We have been working to form a PTO for the last 3 years. Last year, we got to the point where there are 5-8 parents who attend meeting and many more who volunteer at events. There has been a lot of guidance from the principal and myself to help the 5-8 parents plan their meeting and events and manage finances. We have a new principal for this upcoming year who is coming from a school with a PTA. We're wondering if we need to have an election or if we can continue with the previous model until the parents are ready to take over completely. We're creating Bylaws this year.

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

bblake writes:
The best thing about PTO's and PTA's is their goal is the same - help the school do good things for the kids. Have an open discussion at your next meeting on what kind of system you want to put in place. Get general approval and then institute those systems and include them in your bylaws. Your bylaws are what govern your group. Once they are in place, you should be all set.