Sorry this woman is being so annoying but I am sure she has good intentions and just wants to be "helpful"
I would definitely have her "look" for the bylaws that are saying she has all this power. But on the otherhand I wouln't turn her away she has alot of experience and knowledge she just being a bit overzealous with it. At this point I would ask her to use that helpfulness by being a chairperson for an event that she has previously done. Don't give her something new that you want to make changes to. That will give her full rein but I think she just wants to feel useful and wanted.
As for the bylaws while she is looking for them. THere are tons of samples of bylaws here and online. I would have your new officers make a new set over the summer so you can start off the school year fresh. They don't have to be elaborate just something that would get you started and you can make adjustments latter. We redid ours a couple years back its not an easy task but doable and well worht it. As for her being part of the executive meetings she really has no role at them being a past president.
You both have good intentions of wanting to help the school, but she probaly just doesn't know what her role is yet. You might have to lead her to that role.
Good luck and if you need help on th bylaws you can email me
Cindy<br />
<br><br />
<br>____________________________________________<br />
<br>"People have the right to be stupid, but some abuse the privelege."
Did you check with your principal to see if the school has a copy of your bylaws? The secretary at our school has a copy.
Regardless, I think it's time to have a come-to-Jesus talk with this woman!! At the end of your next meeting I would have the current board members pull her aside and say they you are appreciative of her past contributions but her current approach is undermining your ability to fulfill your role as the CURRENT president and you respectfully ask her to back off. Well maybe you don't want to say back off but you you know what I mean!
Another thought: You may be able to find a copy of your group's by-laws by approaching board members from past years. There's likely some parents from the time of, or time before, the last President that have a copy to give you.
If you could locate a copy that way, re-creating the by-laws with all the research, rounds of editing, and voting will be one less task for you to help lead.
Naturally, once you have by-laws in hand, every board member receive a copy, the school office should receive a copy, and it should be loaded onto your organization's website for review by any school parent.
If the past president believes the by-laws gives her position the right to vote, attend meetings, and approve all activities, she needs to prove it by providing a copy of your organization's by-laws. Of course, she will be unable to do so.
Every organization's by-laws are unique to that group. It will be up to your current board to define yours. There are samples on this site. You might also find the book Robert's Rules of Order in Brief helpful.
While your group is working through the development of new by-laws, feel free to disregard the past president's calls and emails. Also, there is no need to notify her of any by-law committee meetings or any other committee meetings. Just move ahead under your own leadership.
Our past president threw away the bylaws and we've never seen them. I've been researching the bylaws from other schools because I want to have them for my term. Many of the bylaws only say that the past president is an advisor but they don't say what her voting rights are. I was told verbally from a nearby school in the same district that their past presidents aren't invited to the meetings and they do not have voting rights except at general PTO meetings. I was wondering what the norm is in regards to the past president attending executive board meetings and having a vote. Our past president liked to micromanage everything. She was also our volunteer coordinator and she took the volunteer list home with her so no one could see it. She only wanted people in her little clique to do everything so she could have control over everyone. As a result, we were overworked and hardly had any other parent volunteers. Now as a past president she claims she can still come to all the meetings and review everything we want to do (which we always have to explain to her in great detail) and she wants a vote on everything. If we do something that is different from what she did, she is very critical. She'll keep leaving us voice mails or e-mails on the same issue over and over again. I don't want to feel like I'm the presidents president. We have three new board members and we're also waiting word about who our new principal is going to be and who our new teacher reps are going to be. I don't want all this negativity brought in to the new board room. Without bylaws, we don't know what is normal procedure for a past president.
