Question: Can someone try to change our voting slips after the fact?

Our school has a District Clerk that came to our PTO and asked for money to purchase 3 seperate items for the schools kitchen. When she then bought a table and not any of the items she listed I refused to write the check. She got angry and started calling parents into her office to sign a petition stating that they approved a gerneral dollar amount and did not vote just for those specific items. Our voting slips and meeting minutes reflect that we voted for 3 items only. At the next meeting she brought in 15 teachers to over power the board adn to try to force us to pay for the table. We had asked her to simply change her funding request and for the PTO membership to re-vote. She also had the table delivered and was using it knowing that she would over power the meeting and force us to pay for the table. Isthis legal? HAs anyone else dealt with this?

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
From what you say it sounds like your group would have approved the table if that had been the original request. So I'm going to assume this is a matter of procedure rather than a question of outright dishonesty (saying one thing while planning to do another). I think you did the right thing not to write the check. The way I would present it to her is that you *can't* write the check because of the way the motion was worded. It doesn't matter how she thinks it was worded -- it depends on what it says in the minutes. Those are the official (and legal) records of your group. I would tell her that you are happy to approve the table, but it has to be done at the next meeting. You will explain to members that priorities changed and the table was deemed a more immediate need. Getting the request approved should be no problem. (If that's the case.) Let her know that you want to work with her, but you (officers) don't have any choice but to follow the group's bylaws and procedures -- especially in a case where a significant amount of money is involved. I think your best choice in this case is to move beyond her strong-arm tactics and make it clear, through your actions, that they were unnecessary. Then, if you work with her in the future, make sure everybody's clear on expectations before a vote is taken. You might also want to read the article How To Deal With Difficult People. She sounds like a classic steamroller (explained in the article). Good luck!