I've been reading your questions about nominations and elections. I'd like to share with you some basic parliamentary rules concerning this subject based upon ROBERT'S RULES OF ORDER.
A nominating committee should be elected by the members. The duty of the committee is to find the best qualified members to serve in different offices. When the committee finally agrees on whom they want to nominate they should call these members to see if they are willing to serve. If they do not want to take the position, then the committee needs to start over and find people who are willing to serve. It is also best that the committee only submit one nomination per office. Remember the key is to find the best people. Elections in small organizations should not be compared with government elections where you have people running against each other.
After the nominating committee gives their nominations at the meeting then members are usually allowed to make nominations. If a member nominates someone from the floor, the member should have asked his/her nominee if he/she is willing to serve before nominating him/her. A nomination from the floor does not need a second.
If you would like to know more about correct meeting procedures go to this WEB Site: http:// parli.com. We answer questions such as those posted on this site.
Possible problem solved - at pto meeting yesterday morning we had a large showing of parents to 'discuss' the upcomming election. All but 2 board mem. have announced that they are not running for re-election.
It is not as simple as to counting ballots. In the last election (a special one to fill vacancys mid-term to be voted on by the board and standing committees)people were nominated, the interm president anounced that there would be an election and everyone waited for the next meeting. At the next meeting with people ready to vote the the board announced that the elections had been held and was over. All vacant positions filled by current board members, one vacancy filled by someone not nominated and other vacancys to be filled at a later date. In reality there was no written vote and several voting members did not know about the election. As to the upcomming election, there are many on the board who have multiple memberships (for 5.00 ea their kids and pets can become pto members)this is but one way to pad the results although we can't eliminate outright lying. To add to this, you should know that several pto board members are involved in a profitable daycare business in the school and are in direct conflict with the principal. Principal, teachers and even chairpeople (such as I) are not even notified when most meetings take place, policy is just announced. We don't understand where the power comes from except that these people have been here a long time, and thus have a lot of followers. It is even possible that they could win an election without direct vote cheating. Most pto members are non-supporting, they just pay their money for membership. We have a plan but we're trying to do this with a minimum of bloodshead. If we were a PTA we would turn to them but as PTO we don't know who else can govern.
HELP! We are a grade 1-5 school of 500 students. I have just rewritten the next words about a ten times so I'll try to ask a simple question.- How do we remove a corrupt PTO board? Our bylaws are brief and non-specific. Most PTO meetings are in secret and policy is just 'announced'. The elections are tainted to keep current officers in office. (for ex. the current nomination com.(who are honest) have been passed over by the the appointment of the new nom. com. We are searching for a solution that will not tear the school apart. Current plans inc. trying to get our local school board to admin. and monitor a true election. Any suggestions appreciated on this board or E-main This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tim, thank you for the Roberts Rules of Order website. I just came from a very stressful, unorganized PTO meeting. We need the right rules of order.. thanks again..
Joanne
