The by-laws are the governing documents of your group. All members whether it's a board member or a General Assembly member has the right to a copy of the by-laws and you should be able to see the Financial Statements as well. As the President of our PTO and former Treasurer, our by-laws are available through the school (since that's who we're there for) and we provide all members who attend our meeting a copy of the minutes from the previous meeting, a Treasurers Report (which details all income and expenditures for that period) and a copy of the Agenda for that meeting. Do you have any requirements for becoming a member of the group or do you just show up for meetings (that should be spelled out in the by-laws). PTA's normally charge a fee for membership because they're part of a national group and pay fees for that. You have to be firm. Don't ask.....tell the President you want a copy. When they're not willing to share that information, it's a clue there's something fishy going on. Be firm!!!
For the 2 years our PTO has been around, we have had our by-laws posted on our website.
We have been criticized for not endorsing referendums, and we confidently direct those questionings us to the website. It is in black and white. Nothing to hide.
Good lord no - it is not unreasonable!!! You should be able to see those bylaws. They should be available at every meeting.
When I was Co Pres and we decided on making bylaw revisions, we bought it(the proposed bylaw revisions) to the general meeting, explained the reasoning behind the revisions both verbally and through a handout explaining in detail the current bylaw, the revision proposed and the rational behind it. Then the next month we put it to vote. Every board member was given a copy of the new bylaws to keep in their folders.(They all already had a copy of the current bylaws).
Typically, bylaws are kept in posession of the recording secretary and should be at all meetings.
This year, the board went a step further and put them up on the Home & School's website.
Maybe she's trying to figure out what you want to know before she hands them over. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Sometimes people like to be totally in control of who knows what and who has access to what information. Sounds like this could be the case.
Is there something specific you want to know? Start asking her questions. Maybe she'll get tired of hearing from you and just hand them over!
I always get suspicious of people who don't respond to request like this. Makes you wonder what they're up to. We keep multiple copies of our by-laws in a file drawer at the school. When I wrote them a couple years ago, I specifically did this so we would be able to quickly provide a copy to anyone who asked. Whenever we make changes, we give copies of the proposed changes and the final approved changes to everyone who attends the meeting.
Keep asking, maybe even do it at your next meeting so everyone there knows about it. That may prompt action on her part! Even go so far as to state why you specifically want to see them(nomination rules, board member job descriptions, etc.).
At our school, we made some amendments to our by-laws in the fall. All the board members were to get a copy of the revised by-laws. Guess what we still haven't and no one seems to know where they are. The secretary should have them, but who knows. I would keep pressing the issue. It is not an unreasonable request.
Our nominations for new officers is tomorrow with not updated copy of the by-laws in sight!
I requested a copy of our PTO bylaws over a month ago! Apparantly the President does not want me to have them? I have no idea why, she told me she would give them to me when she is good and ready! I need help, I would really like to be involved in our PTO but they do not give much chance for parental involvement! The PTO President is a member of staff, she does have a child in the school too! I have now requested a copy of the treasurers report too! The treasurer is the parent who was President previously and moved on to another school? I am so puzzled by all of this as I am new to the public school system. I would appreciate any help or advise you could give me!
