As often on these board there are initial questions that need to be asked before we can provide the answers...

- Is you group and independant 501(C)3 non-profit organization?

The reason this is so important is because it effectively answers what "rights" the Principal has. What I mean is that some groups that may give themselves the name "PTO" fall under the school and as such are under the control of the school and the Principal. If your group is of this type then the Principal really can do everything that she did. But if you are, like most of us, a non-profit 501(C)3, then you are independant and I would say that she borke some protocol. Though:

- What does your Bylaws state?

This is very important as well. If your group does not have Bylaws then you really do need them. They protect you from issues of this nature. In addition, like FoxMom wrote, many Bylaws will indicate what responsibilities a staff member (non-parent) can have. Often the Bylaws will not allow a staff members to be an Executive Board member as it can protect the group. For example there have been cases where a Principal has pushed to have staff members become President, Treasurer, etc. If something like this was to happen then even though the group is independant, it can still end up being controlled by the Principal. This is a bit off point, sorry...

In regards to your Bylaws, if you have them, hopefully it has something regarding how finances are handled. For example, my group's Bylaws indicate that only the Directors of the organization, or those designated by the Directors, can handle monies. This would, or should, prevent something like what you explained from happening.

So, by your Bylaws, or just by how things are done, who decides how the funds are used? The fact that your Principal went ahead and held the event anyway suggests that she has plans/pupose for those funds.

But, as the others have suggested, in the end the Principal is the final authority. Should she have rescheduled the bake sale? Well, not without discussing it with you first.

Should she have held it without your group's buy-in? Well, depending on your Bylaws, likely not.

So what has happened to the funds that were raised? Have they been provided to your group's Treasurer? Was the correct form filled out?

More than likely, if this bake sale did not fall under your group, it was on the illegal side. I do not believe that a fundraiser can be held by a public school, unless it falls under a group such as a PTO (I may be mistaken in this).

But in the end you don't want to upset her more than you may have already done. If she decided to stand against your group it will make things very difficult for you and we'll be posting to your next post about what recourse does your group have when your Principal won't allow you to do anything at the school. Hopefully it won't get to that point.

The big issue to me, and the one that needs to be addressed, is how you and your group was left out of the decision making on rescheduling. This was the one bad protocol by the Principal and shouldn't have happened.

Hope things work out and let us know.
PresidentJim

Our teachers are part of our PTO, but not actually one the board-- I understand where she was coming from resigning--- she shouldn't have been in that position to begin with-- principals can cancel at any time, but a principal needs to remember that it's the parents help that sometimes makes a school work well.... you need to find a way to work together. I definitely think a meeting is in order-- you need to dicsuss what happened and how do you put processes in place to protect from this type of caos from happening again. Your decision to run the sale anyway might not have been the best, even with the best of intentions... your principal probably feels that you have overstepped your bounds adn have revoked her authority so she is going to fight you back-- that is probably why she wouldn't let you re-schedule your sale... and ran it her way-- not the ebst thing to do in my opinion-- open communication is the key to make this relationship work..... Bite your tongue and apologize for running the sale without reaching her for permission, and try to work together on future endevors for the benefit of the children. Good luck!

"Can a Principal cancel a PTO event without consulting the PTO members?"

I can only answer one of your questions - - the Principal can indeed cancel a school event without permission if it is a function that will be held on school gounds. For example - - we are in Florida and had a HUGE power outage last week. The outage did NOT effect our school or out town. However, the District cancelled ALL afterschool events in the COUNTY due to it. Therefore, our PTC Meeting was cancelled that night.

Good luck with your other questions - someone will be sure to answer it quick for you.

We just started a PTO at our school. We are a B.O.C.E.S. Satellite Program. It is a unique, small and separate program, within the general school district, that consist of children from K-12 and our children are distributed in 4 different buildings within the school district. We have 1 principal who runs the whole program. We have 3 parents, including myself, and a teacher who is part of the Board of our PTO. We have more teachers than parents who are members of our PTO.

We always include the participation and input of our Principal. This time, our Principal cancelled a bake sale on the day it was planned, because she thought that our district was going to close school early, due to the possibility of inclement weather. The Principal also rescheduled the bake sale for another day without consulting any of the board members. All the baked goods were in already and school was not cancelled. I was notified by one of the teachers about the cancellation and rescheduling of the bake sale. They were panicking about all the baked goods in their classrooms that parents donated. I quickly contacted the Principal via email, since I was told she was in meetings all day. I let the principal know that I was aware of the cancellation of the bake sale and that the rescheduled date she proposed was not good for any of the parents who volunteered to help out, if we can reschedule for another date. We also made a quick decision to sell all the baked goods that were brought in, during lunch periods. We got the ok from the other administrators, to sell our baked goods, since we could not get in contact with our Principal. Well, when our Principal found out, she was very upset that we sold the baked goods without her permission. She also wrote me via email that she will not reschedule the bake sale. The principal conducted the bake sale without any parent volunteer. She had teachers take turns selling and handling money. It was my understanding, that teachers were not allow to handle any of the PTO money.

Can a Principal cancel a PTO event without consulting the PTO members? Can a Principal reschedule an event without consulting the PTO members? Can a Principal conduct a PTO event without a PTO member?

We would like to hold a meeting with our Principal regarding this matter because in result of this chaotic day, one of our teachers was reprimanded and was written up for subordination, for selling baked goods without the Principal's knowledge. She happen to be the teacher who is part of the PTO Board. This teacher was also the one who formed this PTO. Unfortunately, she has since resigned her duties as secretary because she is afraid her job, as a teacher, is at risk due to her participation.

Any input as to how we, the Board Members, should go about this meeting? Thank you in advance.

PTO President