Like the others said, check your bylaws. The two PTOs in which I was a member had different rules:

Elementary - A teacher/staff member could fill any position EXCEPT the elected officer roles (Pres, VP, Treas, Sec, Parliamentarian). But they could be committee chairs - who also served on the Board. When we re-wrote our bylaws, this was a subject discussed due to possible conflict of interest. Our principal really wanted the clause included. Not only can you have different priorities that affect direction, but sometimes - no matter how wonderful the relationship - the principal and PTO don't see eye to eye. Our principal didn't want to be in the situation of having one his employees placed in that position.

Middle School - we had no such restriction, more than once had a teacher or staff member serve as President, and had no problems at all. (However, I should point out that our Middle School PTO plays a much smaller role than our elementary PTO.)

Note - anytime we had a teacher volunteering for a significant PTO role (in elementary school), we discreetly ran it by the Principal. He had a few problems more than once where an enthusiastic teacher (also a parent) spent too much school time on her PTO role. That definitely has to be managed. So there were times when some teacher volunteers were tactfully redirected.

I would say yes, it is likely OK per standard group Bylaws, though I will also echo many of the concerns here. Teachers and parents will often have different priorities. A PTO President will be in a position to push some of their priorities. For example, imagine if this teacher PTO President suggested to increase what your group normally does for teacher appreciation week. The teacher may be wanting to do this based on their knowledge of how hard the teachers work, but how would the active, or even the inactive parents take this? In many ways the difficulties that may arise from this are going to stem from your Bylaws. If there are checks and balances in place to ensure that the President can't make things happen without other executive members first agreeing then likely no issues. If not then I would recommend ammending your Bylaws for this purpose.

regards,
PresidentJim

our bylaws call for co-presidents.. one teacher, one parent.. that happened once.. 10 years ago when the by-laws were written.. ( before my time on the board).. since then.. 2 parents...., but we do have a teacher rep

I wouldn't think a teacher running even with a child would be cool. We are a PTO, parent and teacher, both having different views...I guess if you have a great teacher that puts needs of students first it doesn't matter but I have encountered some teachers not like that. Good luck!

Our wording states they must have a child... but I like the idea of a teacher running! However I will say it is alot of extra work on them! If I was still teaching, I dont think I could do it!

I agree. Check your bylaws. Mine says all parents/guardians and staff are members but the Officer Eligibility clause says the candidate must have a child/ward attending the school. So, a teacher could run only if they also had a child enrolled at the school.