I started taking minutes professionally about 7 years ago and I was told to document specifics given and by whom so that person could be asked if said item came up again or so we could look back and see why something was or wasn't done/changed at the time. I also found that at our meetings someone says I will do so and so and they forget and no one can remember who was supposed to do it. So now when Jane says she will call Wendy's about chili, I write that down as well as what a certain person says about why they don't want to do a certain fundraiser because future groups need to know why we didn't do something in the past or why something didn't work. I don't write who votes for or against something but we aren't a large, formal group.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
Are you just speculating this could happen or do you know that someone is specifically looking to get a copy of your minutes and send them to the school board attached to their letter?
I think the easiest way might be to note something but not delve into the specifics of what was said. I do not know the specific nature of what happened...so this is a broad example but you can say "While discussing XXX Mrs. Smith expressed her concern about the matter. Mr Jones then addressed her concerns.
I always find it best to use blanket statments like that instead of going on verbatum about what someone said. Then you are just noting someone spoke about their concerns and nothing more.
I understand minutes to a meeting are not suppose to be about what was said but rather what happenned at the meeting. My question is if during the PTO meeting a discussion on an agenda items had some members ask a question of a school adminstrators in regards to school policy can those answers by the administrators be summarize by parents and be amended into the minutes prior to the approval of the minutes? The problem is the school policy had nothing to do with the PTO, but did upset some of the parents. If the information is documented in the minutes of the PTO meeting those minutes could then be used in a letter to the school board that would place the PTO in the middle of something that is not the PTO place to take a stand on.
