Originally posted by Pearlie:
Any member can attend our monthly PTO meetings, but board members only can vote. A member must attend two consecutive meetings to be eligle to become a board member..... If a board member misses two consecutive meetings, they lose their voting priviledges until they have attended two consecutive meetings again. Works out quite well.

Hi Pearlie --

That's an interesting policy you have. In an effort to further the discussion (not slam, as it sounds like it's working for you), I must say I don't love the sound of it.

Couple of issues:

1. The meeting attendance requirement. I think there's a real need for parent groups to significantly (totally?) de-emphasize the importance of meetings. Why is meeting attendance the end-all, be-all? Your group is doing the opposite by making meeting attendance really the #1 qualification. Basically, a parent who works at the time of your meetings can never vote (or hold a leadership position), even if that parent is really, really involved with helping out. Ouch. Maybe she or he has to work at your meeting times every other month (but attends meetings the other months) -- she couldn't be a leader of your group either. Ouch again.

2. The voting message. Clique warning. If you've read any of my stuff on the site, you'll know that my worry about cliques is not whether you really are one, but whether the general parent population thinks you are one. And I think this set of policies you have is likely to add to that possibility.

I can see where your policy helps to make your most involved folks feel valued (which is important and deserved). But I think the policy likely makes it extra, extra hard to connect with and engage those less-connected parents (one of the biggest challenges of a parent group).

My $0.02.

Tim

[ 01-22-2005, 06:33 PM: Message edited by: Rockne ]

We do not collect dues...it's a foreign concept to us. Everyone who has a child at the school is a member so there's no distinction between "members" and "non-members". We don't really find it necessary because dues aren't generally a significant amount of money.
Just my .02
Shelly

Just wanted to add that there was an occasion in the past when there were more members interested in becoming board members than the bylaws allowed, and the board voted to amend the bylaws to increase the number of board positions to accomodate them.

Backhoed,

We do have voting of new members in May of every year, however, we have had so many openings that were not filled in the past few years that there have been more board vacancies than there were members to fill them. So any member fullfilling the two meeting requirement was usually able to be voted in thruout the year for open board positions that were vacant... I hope I explained that well enough. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I never really thought that much about all members not being able to vote because we don't get very many non-board members at our meetings and it is not unusual to not have any. Board members aren't removed if they miss two consecutive meetings..they just lose their voting priveledges until they attend two consecutive meetings again.

Maybe the reason for our policy is that it was thought people who would only attend infrequently wouldn't be as apt to be as "clued in" on voting for things and how the money was budgeted for the year....I can't say for sure tho. Or, maybe it encourages the board members to not miss meetings?

Thanks for bringing that to my attention....it makes me curious now why we do it this way.

Do you think most PTOs allow ALL members to vote? What would be the incentive for members taking on board positions then if all members voted?

Could be that this has worked for my PTO because the board is larger than some...I dunno??

Agreeing with what JHB said in the "why" collect dues - we collect $5 per family and have been doing it for years and years for the reasons JHB said. Do we make a lot of money- no. Each family gets a membership card. They are considered dues paying members who have voting privileges. We do consider everyone to be "members" however, the distinction is that dues paying members are allowed the right to vote. There are a few more perks to go along with that as well.

Pearlie, your board member rules are quite unique to me. I have never actually heard of any PTO/whatever to allow you to become a board member simply by attending 2 meetings consecutively - or the removal process. Most boards are voted in usually in May (for most, as I have ascertained by reading these forums for the last 5 years) as ours has been. Also, the voting aspect of your group is quite unique. Members are not allowed to vote? Very interesting to me.

Either way can work; I belong to one of each. For reference, I'll post some reasons PTOs do charge dues.

<< copied from my post in a previous thread>>

Our elementary school deliberately chooses to charge a token membership fee – equivalent to the cost of the student directory - which members get for free. However, once the membership drive is over, there's no real distinction between a member and non-member family. (Voting is a mere formality as all votes at general meetings are unanimous.)

I think the reasons we do this are: </font>

• The membership drive forces us start each year documenting/proving WHY the organization is worth joining. We don’t take belonging for granted (at first).</font>
• The entire membership drive is a marketing activity, which lays the groundwork for volunteer recruitment and other programs.</font>
• The class level membership contest involves the children and gets THEM excited about the PTO. (Top three classes with highest membership percentage win a prize.)</font>
• Strange but often true – something that is “free” often has an unconscious value of “zero”.</font>
• “Joining” is the first step towards commitment</font>
• Membership is an easy/low cost way to show support for the organization.</font>
• Since we include the directory as part membership, there is relatively little marketing effort for the directory itself. As a standalone activity – trying to sell the directory to everyone – that effort would probably equal what we spend on the membership drive. So eliminating the membership drive wouldn’t necessarily save volunteer time.</font>
• Membership provides some funds. Certainly it is not a major fundraising activity. However, we do promote/allow members to add a tax-deductible donation beyond the membership fee. It’s not uncommon for members to voluntarily add $10 or $20.</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

Note - I'm not pushing one way or the other. It just depends on the group.