Q&A

Concerns with Board

Our current PTO board did not hold a meeting until January in the school year. The president resigned at the meeting. They stated the VP would be president and next meeting elections would be held for VP and treasurer. 17 people were at our first meeting. Since that meeting the board has appointed someone to be both treasurer and VP. I have tried to work with them to form a working committee for a Reading Month Enrichment Night. They are stalling claiming "legal problems". Talking w/ the prinicpal uncovered that they haven't filed paperwork with the IRS since 2008 and they have lost their tax ID. I am a new parent to this school and want good things for our students. Where do we begin? They did not follow bylaws w/ regards to meetings, but they are claiming they are acting w/in bylaws by appointing officers. Should we ammend bylaws? Should we explore dissolution? Who can help navigate this sad and difficult situation? The current board is 'closed' in their approach to running things (they want to control and do everything, claim little parent involvement, negative blaming). I am also very fearful about the record keeping and finances. Please help!
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The problem your group is having doesn't sound all that uncommon. Groups ebb and flow in terms of participation, and if information isn't handed down from one board to the next, it's certainly possible to lose track of even important things like filing IRS forms. It sounds like the best step for your group is to, in a sense, start over: carefully examine and rewrite your bylaws, establish sound financial controls, and refile IRS paperwork. Regarding your reading night plans, it's possible to run an excellent reading night with very little expense. I would approach the group with the idea that this is a good way to rebuild trust with families and to spur involvement. Our free Family Reading Night planning kit walks you through the planning process and offers some terrific ideas for a fun night. You may have to scale back your original plans a bit to match what the group is able to pull off at this point, but you can still have a successful event. Good luck and please let us know how things go!
- Craig
Links in this post:

rewrite your bylaws: https:/classic.ptotoday.com//pto-today-articles/article/968-how-to-write-pto-bylaws

sound financial controls: https:/classic.ptotoday.com//pto-today-articles/article/395-5-smart-financial-controls

Family Reading Night planning kit: https:/classic.ptotoday.com//sfn/family-reading-night