Our school board concerns itself with mainly education related matters only. School, children, curriculum, buildings/space , hiring of supers, and of course........TAXES.

OUrs have nothing to do wtih PTOAs. If anyone staff has a say in our PTOA matters, it is the PRINCIPAL alone and no one else.

Youve gotten great advice up above to find out if youre indpenedent or not. And if you dont have bylaws then its a great time to decide HOW you want to be run and put it in writing if there is no superceding document, like that which may have been drawn up when your group was first established.

Probably your principal could help you find the 'founding documents' of your PTOA as SURELY she or her predecessor, had a say in this affair when it was first founded, and also established accountablilies and reporting lines.

I cant imagine a parent group can set up without consulting any school staff, there has to be some founding rules and guidelines in the bowels of the school's files.

SAFinRI just a comment about using the school's name in your parent group name. In New York in order to be incorporated if you are using your school's name in your groups name you are required to get district permission and then permission from the dept of education to have that as part of your legal name.Then the state will allow you to incorporate. Does that mean they have control over us...no but our name. Just sharing.

Phil is correct, determine if you have your own EIN number and 501 c3 status. And find your by-laws, if you are incorporated (that would be proof of being separate) the Secretary of State would have a copy.

Sometimes school boards take advantage of loosley organized PTOs. Since there is no state or national organization for the group to fall back on.
Using the school's name does not place the group under the school board's authority in and of itself. an example would be :
Anytown Elementary School, next door to "Anytown Pizza"..."Anytown" would not control the pizza shop.

This is all the more reason to use the programs and service here (or through PTA) to get your group well organized.

The key is whether you are an independent organization of parent supporting the school, or are you an extension of the school itself. If you are independent (have own EIN, bank account, 501c3) then the School Board has no authority to direct your activities. If they really wanted to hassle you their lawyers could send a note that directs you to state "The XYZ PTO is a separate entity from the XYZ Elementary School" or something like that, but they can't prevent you from existing.

On the other hand, they can make your ability to carry out the PTO mission very difficult, so working with the board and within their rules is usually a good thing.

it is not the norm that the school board gets involved in pto business so I am suspecting that there is something that happened to warrant this. Bottom line is if you work out of the school you do need to follow and abide by district rules and policies. Our bylaws state that we can not go against district or school policies. Even as a 501 if you cant work as a team they can make it very very difficult to allow you to succeed. If you are not a 501 it seems it would be even easier for them to have some control over you.

dlf and Critter have great examples of independent PTOs. Catch up on their other posts on the boards in this regard.

My group isn't independent of the school board. We do have our own executive officers and mostly are left alone to conduct business but that's because the board trusts us and we've always operated with respect to the school's name and standing in the community. And, regular communication between all parties has insured that our goals are in line with the needs of the community.

Your use of the word 'traumatic' makes me wonder if your BOE has valid concerns. Perhaps there's a bigger reason why they'd like either complete control of or a clear separation from your group? While I don't know the legalities of it all, I do think part of the BOEs role in any community is to insure that all branches (real or perceived) of the education system operates with integrity.