They need to realize they are adults and that they are doing this for the children not for personal gain. We have a paper given out at the beginning of the year to all volunteers that lists what is expected of a volunteer, following through with promises, attending when you say you will, privacy etc. As the president she has the right to be in charge, because if something were to go wrong or fall apart it would be her on the chopping block. However, the point of a chairperson is to help take the load off. I have a chairperson for our book fair for example, she is in charge of setting up the fair, getting volunteers, handling money and so on. If anything were to go wrong I would need to fix it, so I like to know every detail of what is going on. I don’t boss her, but if something is being done wrong it is my place to say something. I am not sure what they were arguing over, but if the president is asking her to do something, and it is not just to be bossy, but b/c it needs to be done, then the chair person should do it. If it is however something unnecessary or because the president is like you say on a power trip, the chairperson should say something to her, it is her place not yours, and if they choose to act like children and argue rather than solve the problem, either tell them you don’t want to be in the middle of it or confidentially speak to the principal. The silent rule of PTO/PTA’s: Keep your mouth shut, don’t talk bad about other people, and don’t ever repeat anything you hear.
