Our by-laws state a 2 yr. term unless no one wants the position that will be open, then the current position holder can stay on if they would like & the board agrees. BUT in order to hold a position or be a part of the PTO, in the members sec. in by-laws, you have to have a child in the school. Good luck!
Your bylaws are your own. There is no national PTO bylaws. If your bylaws don't stipulate a 2-year term limit, you don't have a 2-year term limit. Maybe there's some language that could be interpretted as term limits, but it sounds like your president has interpretted that language in her favor.
Read your bylaws. Maybe they put rules around the Nominating Committee process that need to be enforced (ours stipulates a 3-person Nom Comm).
Maybe you should run again? Or find a like-minded parent to help you raise these concerns. It must be hard to see the group that you nurtured now take a turn for the worse.
I am a former PTO president who just returned to the school that I served with my younger son.
During my service to the PTO, my board and chair persons worked very hard to create an organization that welcomed all parents and encouraged active participation. We were proud of the work that we had done to increase parent and teacher involvement.
I have not been active with the PTO this year, since my son is currently in kindergarten and I am now working full time. However, I was recently contacted with questions and could use some assistance from anyone able to give it.
Our PTO executive board has had 2 year terms, with secretary and treasurer running one year, and president and vice president running the next. My predecessor currently has a son who will be entering the 5th grade this next school year. She is unwilling to give up the presidency, so began looking for loopholes in the bylaws that would allow her to run again.
To my dismay, the current president called me to ask about this situation, stating that she was just now reading the bylaws for the first time (March of her second year in office). When I recommended that she contact the PTO lawyer, I found out that we no longer had a PTO lawyer and that she was not aware that the PTO was considered to be a corporation.
Upon further investigation into the current situation of the PTO, I came to realize that 85% of all committees were currently being chaired by executive board members or their husbands. This included several committees that I know had suitable and qualified parent volunteers, myself included.
Since our current bylaws do not state distinctly 2 year terms, our current president is running again on a 1 year term. She has appointed 2 close friends to be the nominations committee, which will also be in charge of counting and tallying ballots.
I was under the impression that there was a national set of bylaws that the PTO’s could use as a guide. I am looking to find out if there is a limit to the number of terms an executive officer can serve, as we do not feel that it is in the best interest of the PTO to have the current president remain in office.
We are very concerned with the current state of affairs in our PTO and want to get things back to where they should be as soon as possible.
I appreciate you assistance.
Mari Peckham
[ 04-04-2006, 09:39 PM: Message edited by: Mari P ]
