I'm still reeling over this. I have never heard of any officers suing PTO/A or any other parent group. I agree it is a waste of money and time that could be better spent on something else. My mom always says if two people are arguing how do you know who's the fool. There have been times when I have really wanted to say something at an executive meeting and at the actual meeting. I ask my self is it worth it. I am there for my children and the other children at the school. I have had my character defamed and was backed up by the parents who know me and our president. I'm still holding my position and I try to have as little to do with the person who started the confusion in the first place. I work with the person to get the job done. I let my record of service speak for itself. We should never, ever forget why we are here.

I think anyone that would sue over PTO happenings obviously has too much time on their hands, what a disgrace. Are you truly that unconcerned with the existance of a PTO that you're willing to let it get disbanded for your own gain? I feel very sorry for the students of your school. I'm sure there are many other routes you can take other than suing the involved parties. Let me ask you this, are you involved in your child's school or do you simply like to cause trouble? At our PTO there are parents who complain about everything under the sun yet you never see them volunteer for ANYTHING. It's a shame.

If the situation is as presented, then the 3 board members behaved abysmally.

That said, and NOT being a lawyer, it seems to me the aggrieved party would need to show harm from the statements. If, say, a major client cancelled a big job because of the false statements made by the PTO Pres, then there would be grounds. Although how much could be recovered would be another story.

If they refuse to apologize for false statements knowingly made, yeah I suppose you could sue them. But I doubt it would be worth the effort. Better to focus on the PTO activities (and keeping pride in tact) and hopefully replace them at the next election.

In response to THINK ABOUT THIS who said that a PTO is in existence at the whim of the Principal (I'm paraphrasing here) is just wrong. A PTO is in existence as long as its members want it to be in exoistence. A Principal has no right to prevent parents from meeting and discussing the school, or even fundraising for the school. A Principal can choose to work with or against the PTO and bad Principals can certainly make life very difficult for a PTO to operate, but they do not have the power to disband and indepenedent organization. (The key word is independent - if the PTO operates as a part of the school, by using the schools EIN for instance, then THINK is correct.)

Howdy -- 1) a lawsuit can be brought against anyone by an attorney willing to take money. The question is whether the suit will be won or lost and who pays court fees. 2) Yes -- you can be sued for not 'doing what you promised to do' as pertains to following RRoO or Bylaws, etc. IE: RED CROSS was taken to court over using 911 donations for their General Fund expenses. THey had to institute new/updated policies, procedures as a result. 3) Assuming RRoO and a decent set of bylaws, there are formal procedures for 'dealing' with both sides of this question in an appropriate manner. Check out RR's for Dummies for the condensed version of INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE as well as REMOVAL OF OFFICERS...

Yes, I'd be very happy to hear exactly what the secretary and mom did to make the other officers feel the need to vote them out of the PTO.

I have very little time. The extra time I do have is spent volunteering at the school & supporting fund raisers to provide enriching & fun activities for each child in the school. I think that should be the focus of each parent.
I think that the fact that the people who do not volunteer any of their time supporting the activities the pto sponsors are the exact people who have all the complaints.
I do understand that it may seem harsh to vote someone off of the pto but I would imagine that it is something that was neccesary. Was there a chance that the officer & member were jeopardizing the integrity & exsistence of the pto?