How about a web-site for parents to post, not a XYZ PTO website for them to post on. If it's the parents you are representing that's one thing. But, as PTO you are representing the whole school. The BOE will have a problem with anything that is going to make their schools look bad. I would be very wary of those types of sites where people are free to bad-mouth, back-bite and publicly bash other people. I've unfairly had it done to me and it's very hurtful. As long as you will monitor for that I think it's a great idea. I think I would like that too.

We have always run our own site at our school, never asked.
You can always at the bottom, add this site is not a part of blank isds site, etc...
www.hostfor2bucks.com is a good one we use, I don't get anything for referring you guys to them, so I hope this is okay.
It's only $25/year.

As far as the msg type board, set it to where each msg gets stopped at your communications email (or whoever is running it), once they okay the msg it pops up in the forum for all to read. That way if it's BAD or slamming, you can delete it.

We are also trying to close the communication gap and are going to start our own independent website. I haven't even thought I of asking permission!! At a school my child once attended, anything linked to the district's site had a disclaimer about the next site not being an official site of the district and therefore they were not responsible for the content, etc. I'm going to see if our school 1.can link our PTO site to theirs with a similar disclaimer and 2.If not, we'll set up our site anyway and just promote it by word of mouth.

I don't know of the ideal principal-PTO relationship. Do you?

This may help this may not.

Our situation is unique in that I have to deal with a President of the school's and 9 prinsipals.(gotta love internet schooling lol)We have been blessed with support but the school has requested that they do not have a written voting ability unless the elected board grants that ability each year (Our school has seats on our board as observers but not voting privlage unless granted).

We had a "chartermembership drive" to rais the money for our initial web site set up ($250 for 2 yrs with a great "prefab site" see establishing a web site post www.ptotoday.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=24;t=000983 )

If I were you I would ask nicely to view the By-laws under the reason of "Hey I am the president and I want to make sure that I don't try to overstep my bounds. If they say no (or even if they say yes and you don't like what you see) Make a motion at a full meeting as President to Form a Bylaws review committee. at that point you can attempt to put a clause in the bylaws that allows for seperation of School and PTO to the extent of a PTO provided Web Site. One thing I would change If I were you (I am assuming here) is TAKE SCHOOL STAFF OFF THE PTO ACCOUNT (by By-Laws clause)

Then when Mr. Prinsipal wants somthing he has to come to the PTO and ask not demand.

PTO's are there to work with the school and to suport the Students education as the PTO and their members see fit NOT HOW SOME HEAVY HANDED SCHOOL STAFF SEE FIT!

As I said we are lucky to have a school staff that is willing to apreciate any help that we can offer, many of you don't have that from the way it sounds. Help your schools in any way you can but it is wrong on the schools part to just assume you have to do it. bottom line it is a respect issue.

Since I'm no legal expert, I suppose I should be telling you to seek legal counsel.

First Shannom: This seems to be a problem that plagues A LOT of people out there, myself included. One of my skills is NOT diplomacy, so I'm particularly stressed with this kind of thing. I'm all for being up-front and honest. Of course there are ways to do this without antagonizing the people you'll need most, but I've yet to find them! My group is BEYOND separate from the school (we're not THE PTA/PTO, but an alternative to the BS that goes on in our school), yet the principal still insists she MUST approve ALL our public-issued things, whether they be handed out via the "carrier pigeons" or not, and whether the event takes place at the school or not. Having control-issues I find this completely exasperating, plus it creates a COMPLETE bottle-neck, since she also uber-controls EVERYTHING else in the school. It's especially irritating since she never has a problem with what we hand out!!

So, I let her think she's got control. As a courtesy, and to cover my own a**, I make sure she sees everything, as well as the BOE and the superintendent.

In fairness to the principal, there may be a reason that she feels the need to control--maybe the previous people weren't the best and she just got used to having to do things, or maybe she doesn't trust you. It's also possible she's ignorant of the fact that you're a separate entity, and she thinks she SUPPOSED to do all this. Whatever the case, I'd have a sit down with her, preferably with witnesses, and defintitely your VP and treasurer. Nothing that could be construed as confrontational! Since I'm in the same boat, all I can tell you is how I handle it. Things that touch the kids in school, including flyers, I let her approve. Even if it's maddening when she refuses us things for no good reason, or just out of spite. Arguing is senseless--I'd win the battle, but lose the war.

I tend to...circumvent her when I know it's legally OK for me to do so. We call our meetings and prepare the agenda, and let HER know when they are going to happen. Money isn't an issue - she's never had any access except for the fundraising done in the school. Like I said, we prepare the memos/newsletter/website - and then I let her see them. The website for now is the group's ONLY and doesn't have any school info on it--I told her we'd had requests for general info--menus and the like, and if she was OK with it we'd be happy to put it on (our school nor the PTA has a website, so this should be interesting. I gave her an "update" memo/package on Monday and STILL haven't heard from her). Good luck, and welcome to the boards!

Daddio--That all said, I think you can tell what my comment will be, but I'll say it anyway--go for it! Even if you have to fund it yourself it'd be worth every penny to have that freedom.

If you're separate, I really don't think there's much they can do. You're not going to make any friends, but let's face it, you didn't have them to begin with!

I can understand their concern--no one wants to get disrespected in an open forum, and I've known of some town forums that got COMPLETELY out of control, and all sorts of rumors, innuendos and nastiness was let loose. But if you have a good moderator and set rules in advance and let THEM know you're not going to allow ANYONE be attacked they might have a more benign view. Maybe control the board to one topic a week at first, let people air their gripes then move on. If something is especially troublesome, make a report from the postings and give it to them--these are people they depend on for votes, and they better get used to communicating if they want to stay where they are!

In that repect I'm lucky, our BOE and superintendent tend to stay out of our business -- they know what their boundaires are, but they offer NO support, and let the principal do basically as she pleases. Meaning if she says "no" to something we'd like to do, and EVERY other school in the district has done it with great success, we're SOL., as unfair as it is to the kids. We're working on it though, and hope to put a lot of crap to rest this year.

Good Luck! Keep us updated!

Sorry in advance for adding to the question, but I am going to anyway.

We have a good relationship with our pricinple (who has been principle for 23 plus years and since day one of our PTO). But, he is semi-controlling - and to his defense, he is more involved in the day to day then us.

We currently have a web site, and it's part of the district site. Everything (I mean everything) that gets posted must be reviewed by him, and if it is linking to anywhere (yep, anywhere off the district site), it must have district approval. It was a nightmare to update anything last year (we did it 2 times successfully throughout the year and for the most part everything was old and outdated).

We have researched costs for hosting our own site, have the budget for it, but have been told the district would not approve it. One of the main reasons is because we (the pto board) wants to increase communication and plan on purchasing the same software used here (infopop) for ours for a bulletin board. The district is concerned with what people will write and don't want it. My question is this: Do they have a say? We are an independant organization and we are trying to close the communication gap anyway we can. People are a lot more likely to speak their mind if they have a way to do it not face to face. We already know the cost will be offset by banner advertising of local small business as well.

This one really has me fired up and I am about to the point to purchase it and host it myself for the first year because they can't say word one if it's mine (we'll, they can say something, but can't do anything).

The PTO board feels the same way (except the principle who thinks it's a good idea in theory, but concerned with how it would be used). Don't get me wrong, for the most part we are on the same page with most things.

Enough with the rambling.
- Can we do as we wish as a board (for things such as this)?
- Should the district be micro-managing things such as this?
- What are your opinions? Thoughts? Would you proceed?

Thanks again everyone!