Question: PTO Co-President

I am currently the President Elect for the 2011- 2012 school year. After talking with other area PTO's I have found that most schools have two CO-Presidents instead of one President. Questions is.....If I want to bring in another person and make the one seat into two, does the second person have to be elected or do I appoint her or him?

Asked by Tabitha1108

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
You can certainly bring someone in to help you with your job duties without having an election. However, if you want that person to be an officer and board member, she does have to be elected. PTOs organize their leadership in lots of different ways. Sometimes copresidents work better, and sometimes having two presidents is worse. They key is to make sure both officers know how the job is divided in advance, and that you have a mechanism in place for making decisions if the two presidents disagree. One setup that can work is to have a president and a president-elect, who essentially serves as president in training for a year.

Community Advice

Shirley2 writes:
According to most Bylaws officers must be elected. To elect an officer the office should be listed in the Bylaws and said duties clarified. If the office is not listed in the Bylaws an amendment is needed before anyone should be considered for the position. I would suggest you discuss your needs with the Executive Board if they support your suggestion for a co-president ask one of them,the sec'y, to write the amendment if needed asnd have a Board Member present it at the next general meeting. Currently our school has a President, a Co-president, and a Vice President this has worked well for us, but then we are a small school.