unhappy dad;127958 wrote: Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that PTO's are basically the Principal's Organization. If you have a good relationship or a strained relationship with the principal, they have the final say in what the PTO does at the school. I know groups that are independent organizations, but they need the principals approval for anything they do at the school. I know it is theoretically possible to have a group without the administrations approval but how would you have a group if you are banned from; having meetings, handing out fliers, holding fundraisers, etc.
Oscar, Our principal has said a number of times that the PTO's "JOB" is to raise money for the school. This is totally opposite of what I think we should be doing. Years ago, the bylaws stated that we were there to enhance the educational experiences of the students through activities and events. Now, we have no officers of the PTO and the principal has said that he doesn't want any because in the past it has only caused problems. He thinks everything is going great because we still do fundraising each year. I would like to have a strong organization but we can't even have a meeting to discuss it. If it is put on the agenda, the principal sees it and says to remove it. Why bother? I asked the question in another topic www.ptotoday.com/boards/showthread.php?t=19005 Why not have the Principal as the PTO president?
I think the best thing right now, is to stay involved. The more involved you are the more knowledge you will have in what is going on. It is easier to get more people involved and concerned over an issue if you have all the facts. As with any political issue, there are strength in numbers. Until you have the numbers, stay involved and try to get as many people informed on how things work. Eventually, with enough people things could change.
For now, I think I will work directly with my son's teacher to help in the classroom. This way I can help a small group and my son will benefit as well.

Unhappy Dad,
Thanks for your input. What you have said is, in a nutshell, exactly how we feel and where we are coming from! Maybe someday things will get back to where they were before the controlling people moved in. But at this point I too will be taking a step back from the "Principal's Organization" and focusing more on my own children and helping in their classrooms.
Best of luck to you in your endeavor!

oscarthegrouch;127950 wrote: We were basically told that we are the money source and the poor shleps who do all the work and aren't given any credit.

If it were an equal working partnership it would not be a problemOverseeing and working on suggestions together is one thing. But, again, they want complete control of everything we do. What is the point of having a parent organization that is only there to function as "The Principal's Organization"?

Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that PTO's are basically the Principal's Organization. If you have a good relationship or a strained relationship with the principal, they have the final say in what the PTO does at the school. I know groups that are independent organizations, but they need the principals approval for anything they do at the school. I know it is theoretically possible to have a group without the administrations approval but how would you have a group if you are banned from; having meetings, handing out fliers, holding fundraisers, etc.
Oscar, Our principal has said a number of times that the PTO's "JOB" is to raise money for the school. This is totally opposite of what I think we should be doing. Years ago, the bylaws stated that we were there to enhance the educational experiences of the students through activities and events. Now, we have no officers of the PTO and the principal has said that he doesn't want any because in the past it has only caused problems. He thinks everything is going great because we still do fundraising each year. I would like to have a strong organization but we can't even have a meeting to discuss it. If it is put on the agenda, the principal sees it and says to remove it. Why bother? I asked the question in another topic www.ptotoday.com/boards/showthread.php?t=19005 Why not have the Principal as the PTO president?
I think the best thing right now, is to stay involved. The more involved you are the more knowledge you will have in what is going on. It is easier to get more people involved and concerned over an issue if you have all the facts. As with any political issue, there are strength in numbers. Until you have the numbers, stay involved and try to get as many people informed on how things work. Eventually, with enough people things could change.
For now, I think I will work directly with my son's teacher to help in the classroom. This way I can help a small group and my son will benefit as well.

I don't want anyone to get the impression that we didn't want to work with the administration or didn't try to work with them. However I feel that they should not have complete control over our organization, which is what they have taken. We were basically told that we are the money source and the poor shleps who do all the work and aren't given any credit.

If it were an equal working partnership it would not be a problemOverseeing and working on suggestions together is one thing. But, again, they want complete control of everything we do. What is the point of having a parent organization that is only there to function as "The Principal's Organization"?

Oscar I'm sorry to hear that.

I agree with Crew Chief in that the BOE and Admin of the school will be there long after most of us and there does need to be a carrying of the torch so to speak.
On the other hand I've been a part of numerous different parent and volunteer groups, over the years, and I still think when it has gotten to the point of drawing lines in the sand (in any fashion, with anybody and not just the admin) that it may be time to step back and see if you really want to be a part of the leadership of the group, just a member, or leave altogether.
It's really a very personal choice that one needs to make.

In my case (which was a severe one) I chose not only leave the organization but to pull my kids out of the school entirely as did about a dozen or so other parents. But in all reality, there were many more issues with the local admin than just in their parent groups and most where there long before I came along and will, no doubt, be there long after I'm gone.

Overall, I think that a schools admin running and/or closely overseeing a PTO is really a good thing, but also I do have serious concerns that some school admin do take advantage of a parents goodwill/volunteerism at times.

Crew Chief is right in saying that you need to make a choice and by being proactive you might be able to help defuse the situation. I would've taken her advice, and actually did for awhile, but there were just too many other issues in my case.

At our current school, our PTO group is completely overseen by the school and it's great.

We also have a clause like that too:

-Policies shall be developed through meetings, conferences, and committees and shall not direct or control the administrative activities of the school.

We don't want them to have control but we want them to know we want to abide by district and school policies.

Those clauses give a great deal of control to the principal and BOE. If that's how your group chooses to function and your members agree then great. I think they're well worded. My last team's bylaws had a clause that went one step further. We had clauses with similar meaning to yours but also wanted to make it clear that why'll they control our work, we are not to control theirs:

The PTO shall not seek to direct the administrative activities of the school or to control it's policies.