Question: can superintendent over rule PTO decision

Someone at our school went to our superintendent over our PTO's election. This person was nominated and refused to accept a nomination by the deadline and was not put on the ballot. She then wrote her name on the ballot the night of the election. This had never happened before so we decided to send out another nomination for the 1 position to be fair to all who were interested. (we had done this previously when a member had to step down for personal reasons) We sent out nomination forms and had a special election. The woman in question was not elected and is now calling our election unfair. She has gone through our PTO, to the Principal and since she has not gotten the answer she seeks, the Superintendent. It has taken so much energy away from our duties to the children at our school. This is not the first time we have had issues with this woman. We were extra diligent to make sure we were executing everything fairly because we did not want to have any problems. Our by laws state that elections should be conducted by nomination forms returned and an election to be held at a PTO meeting. Also they state that the PTO board has the right to make all final decisions. I am confident we have followed everything correctly and fairly. This woman is threatening to go to the newspapers and the admin. is getting nervous. I am not since we did nothing wrong. Thanks for any advice.

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
It sounds like you've done everything you can and it's time to move on. I doubt the media will be interested in this, but if they are, just tell them -- and anyone else who asks -- "We bent over backward to be fair. She simply didn't win the election." Don't let her parse the details; you want to paint this as the petty reaction that it is. Tell people you followed the rules, you even went the extra mile for her, but in the end people didn't vote for her. She's welcome to run again next year if she likes. Otherwise, case closed. To a certain extent you have to show people through your confidence and attitude that you are sure you did the right thing. And you absolutely should move on to other things. As you noted, it's not fair to your group -- or to the person who did win the election -- to keep focusing on this.