I'm not a lawyer, but -coincidenally - at work one of my duties is to monitor compliance with a state law where one of the clauses is that those involved "should" do/be something. For what it's worth, I can tell you that legally "should" expresses a preference, not a binding requirement. I have had entire conversations with lawyers on the weight of that one word. To be binding, the wording would have had to be "will" or "shall".
That small technical point may not help - but you never know when it might come in handy.
The Church constitution says "should be" members of the Church. But the majority of the Council interprets "should" as "will/must".
I got the impression from someone else who is involved in both the school and the church that the aux. org clause was put in years ago by someone who wanted complete control of everything. Like I said, with the other stuff going on, it could become a huge issue. And my goal has been to not have the politics in the Church touch the PTL. Guess that didn't work!
As for finding a compromise, some people want one and others don't. We already have 1 Church member on the board, plus one teacher. Our Original Constitution says the PTL board should consist of at least 1 teacher. The Council rule will eliminate that too.
Apparently, it was suggested that the PTL President be a Church member and the rest of the positions covered by committee. I'm not even sure how that would work.
Any other organization I've been part of had the basics -- Chairman, treasurer, secretary. I've never dealt with anything like this. I've also never seen so much controversy in anything else I've been in.
I'm to the point where I'm just going to finish out the year and do what I have committed to doing. Nothing more, nothing less.
Your situation isn't uncommon - especially with a church school. Your PTL sounds like it truly is an extension of the church/school, not a legally separate organization.
I'd try to negotiate a compromise. Does the constitution say that boards of auxilliary groups MUST be church members? Can you point out the value that the group has offered so far and explain that to be successful, parents - church members or not - will want to be involved. Can you re-structure the Board so there are some church representative poistions? Try to find middle ground.
I am president of the PTL for a small private Lutheran Day School.
We were just told by the Church Council that the PTL is considered an auxillary organization of the Church, and therefore all Executive Board members must be Church members. None of the current ones are, but we are being allowed to finish out the school year.
Some background: there is a lot of tensions and politics going on in the Church. This faction wants the school, that faction doesn't. So dummy me, I read the Church constitution and found their section about auxillary orgs and questioned if the PTL was one. I know - I should have left well enough alone so it's my fault (I take full blame). But with what's going on, it is only a matter of time before someone from the "that faction" decides to step in. I can see the worst case scenerio where they come in and taake over PTL and disband it in an attempt to get rid of the school. Wouldn't put it past them at this point with some of the other stuff going on.
Anyway, so now I'm done in May. But I was wondering if there is any possible way out of this without getting the Council to re-write their Constitution? I don't think we have any of the IRS paperwork I have read about on this board and am not sure how to find out.(I'm also the one who started this job in August but wasn't given a copy of the PTL Constitution until November) Whenever I need a tax exempt I am given the Church's.
