When I had a child in elementary, our PTO went through similar process as Shirley. We moved to having a general meeting once per semester and executive board meetings every month. However, our Board was large with 15-25 members as it included the 5 elected officers, principal, vice principal, 2 teacher reps, and all committee chairs. We decided that if the Board was going to make most decisions, then it couldn't just be 4 or 5 people. Additionally, we published the meeting dates/times and called them "Business meetings". Visitors were welcome, but rare.
It was an effective way to run the organization which allowed to focus on the business matters. We weren't scrounging for ideas to encourage attendance, arranging for a speaker, setting up chairs that remained empty. Our parents were fairly good about donating and volunteering at events, but not many wanted to attend a monthly meeting.
Regretably we found it necessary to change our PTO meetings. We did this after much prayerful thought and after coming to the realization that usually the same few souls attended the meetings.
Prior to making the change we had the following meetings. The first Thursday of the month an Executive Board Meeting and on the second Tues. of each month a General Meeting. Usualy the Board showed up for the Board Meeting and the General Meeting and a few members showed up for the General Meeting with the Board.
An Amendment to the Bylaws was submitted to the Executive Board to hold Executive Board Meetings monthly and a General meetings in April for annual reports and a meeting in September to approve an annual budget. The Executive Board Meeting would be open to all PTO members and visitors. The AAmendment was discussed and approved by the Board. The Amendment was presented in writing via mail to all PTO members and presented in writing at the next General Meeting. The Amendment was discussed and adopted by the membership.
This has been a positive change for our PTO. We have more attendance at the Executive Board Meeting than we had at our General Meeting and the change has reduced the amount of time demanded of our Board Members.
We followed our Bylaws to the letter. We tried our best to make sure what was being done was understood and was with the approval of the PTO membership. Everyone approved the amendment.
All are welcome to attend and participate at the Board Meetings.
Last edit: 13 years 11 months ago by Shirley2. Reason: to add an additional comment.
We are meeting next week so I'll post after the meeting. I read up on Robert's rules and with approval of the board I can stay and contribute to the meeting, even if it's an executive meeting. Should be fun!
