Question: Board Members and Officers

Our local high school has never had a PTO. We are in the process of forming one. There has been a question as to whether high school staff (even if they are parents) can be a board member or officer in our PTO. I've been told they can not. The question has also arisen as to whether a staff member of any school in our system can be a board member or officer. Can you help me with documentation stating the regulations on this matter? Since we are just beginning we are writing bylaws as well. Is this something that should be stated in our guidelines? Thanks for your help, Sheila McLendon

Asked by sheilamclendon

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
Is this a rule your group is seeking or the school wants? If your group wants to prevent staff members from serving on the board, you should write it into your bylaws. If it's a school rule, you don't need to do anything -- it's up to the school to enforce it. Personally, I think that if a teacher with a child in the school wants to serve on the PTO board and is willing to devote the time, that's good. For one thing, it could help you build relations and open lines of communication with the staff. For another, it's not always easy to get parents involved in the PTO at the high school level -- lots of parents get involved through booster clubs instead. Why shut out someone who wants to help?

Community Advice

Woodoak writes:
What if the school staff member does not have a child in the school? And should the principal be involved in every meeting?

Community Advice

sheilamclendon writes:
Our system does not allow a staff member to be an officer in their school's PTO. However, our type PTO is new to our county. Actually the only way it is like a PTO is that our group consists of parents and staff members of our school. We do not have a checking acct. or a tax id. # and are not functioning independently outside the school. We are a group of parents and staff whose goal is to nurture the environment in which we all work. We are spotlighting ALL students and staff at our school through different activities on our campus. Since this is new, we are having to write the guidelines by which we will operate.