Q&A

yearly elections

Hi. I was wondering how often the rest of you have election of officers? We are from a smaller school and have almost no involvement. We never have anyone that attends meetings, occasionally they will come to movie nights. But the most people that come to those are 20-15 people. We have had meetings, but is hard to have an election when no one shows up. Does anyone know if there is a law that states there has to be an election every year We just took over last year, and I don't believe that there is even a set of bylaws.
- tricha

Hi tricha -- There's no rule that you have to have elections every year, and some groups do elect officers for two-year terms. The issue is usually getting someone to want to commit for that long. My recommendation is to hold elections every year. If no one new runs, then reelect your current officers. Our article on How To Write PTO Bylaws has some advice and links to sample bylaws. It sounds like your bigger issue, though, is building parent involvement. Our Parent Involvement page has lots of helpful articles and tools. I'd recommend starting with 7 Steps To Grow Involvement. Good luck!
- Craig
Links in this post:

How To Write PTO Bylaws: https:/classic.ptotoday.com//pto-today-articles/article/968-how-to-write-pto-bylaws

Parent Involvement page: https:/classic.ptotoday.com//parent-involvement

7 Steps To Grow Involvement: https:/classic.ptotoday.com//pto-today-articles/article/137-7-steps-to-grow-involvement