Question: removal of an officer on PTO Board

My question is if a PTO board member was told by the principal to resign from PTO because of parent complaint as his reason, and come to find out alot of parents are backing up the member that was ask to resign. Does the principal have the right to make this call? What happens if the superintendent is backing up the principal's decision? Does this mean it's a done deal? We also, had two other board members resign because of the poor decision making on the principal's end.

Asked by Jenny305

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
Tough question. First of all, if your PTO is an independent organization, the principal doesn't have the authority to make an officer resign. The principal does have the ability to affect your operations in many ways, however. For instance, he can limit the access you have to classrooms and students, and stop you from sending notices home through the school. So you have to decide whether this is an issue you want to take a stand on. Ask yourself whether there's a middle ground, or whether the lines have been drawn in the sand and there's no reasonable hope for this to end well. The middle ground might be limits on how the board member interacts with parents or students, or how much time she spends at the school, for instance. Maybe you can give her duties like compiling the newsletter and maintaining the website rather than overseeing a family night, for instance. Or maybe she agrees to refrain from certain actions in a "one last chance" agreement. If you can't see a possible compromise, it might not be worth the cost to your group to take up this fight -- especially since it could be a pretty negative experience for the officer in question, too. On the other hand, if you have broad support from parents, you may be able to exert some pressure back. Best wishes -- I hope you're able to work it out. Please let us know what happens.