gallen,
I'm curious as to how the teachers are being discriminated. You're giving them 6 positions. It's not like they are being excluded. I don't think they have a leg to stand on. I think your system is just fine.

Thanx for the input kmamom. The thing is right now anytime something is questioned we get the "brush" off. I don't want a knock 'em down, drag 'em out fight - which is what it would turn into. I just want the situation straightened out once and for all. Her biggest complaint all the time is that there are very few parent volunteers and she just doesn't understand why??!?! (her words.) She has never been a part of the PTO prior to the end of last year (she attended the last 3 meetings) because she was losing her para-professional position at the school and needed something to fill her time up with and try to stay involved in the school (again, her words). I have been involved with the PTO since my oldest was in kindergarten 3 yrs ago, I'm also a regular volunteer(daily) in all 3 of my girls classrooms and was asked by the school's vice principal to be a sub as well and I think I have an excellent reputation with everyone at the school. She recently sent home a notice to parents regarding officer positions being open and went on to write that SHE only wants people who have been very involved in the PTO or with the school somehow for at least 1yr. Personally, I don't think this is right - these positions should be open to everyone and I feel that she is again alienating parents whose children have just started in pre-k or kindergarten or transferred and might really be interested in the PTO. I'm the type of person who gets involved anyways in spite of things like this but not because I'm looking to get something out of it for myself. I'm just a firm believer that we as parents need to be involved in our children schools, education and lives in any way we feel comfortable. I'm determined to stay involved in spite of all this because I feel its important. I think that if we all drop out then it will only get worse and then the children will miss out on some really great events that are coming up because those of us who are left are the ones who do the hard work (planning, organizing, decorating, etc.) anyways (with the prez taking all the credit and never taking the time to say thank you to anyone). My hubby told me the same thing - if its bothering me this much just stop going and see what happens. I'll be thinking this all over during our school vacation. I'll let you know what I decide. Thanx again for your words of wisdom. Greatly appreciated!!! :confused:

Wow--talk about a loaded situation! I know there are people that will tell you to hang in there and fight the good fight, but I found that a few can't handle that sort of battle without the support, and it's like telling the wind to stop blowing. I'm admittedly immature and petty, so my thought is if she's that scary smart, and is SO wonderful and such a terrific leader--let HER do it with her supportive followers. No huge blow-out, no pitting people against one another, just withdraw. After all, they seem to know what's best for the school and the KIDS. I think once they realize there's a lot more than power involved they'll tire of it. A few months with no or poorly run programs will be disppointing, but no lives will be lost from it, and it might just be what everyone needs to see the situation a little more clearly. My opinion is that if you stay you become a self-made martyr (thus negating the meaning of "martyr"), and cause yourself a lot of unneccessary stress.

If you want to fight, go over the bylaws-- most have a stipulation that someone can be voted out of office under certain circumstances. Rally YOUR troops, get the quorum and vote her out. But before you do that, make sure you're ready to forge ahead and make things good for the kids, and be willing to accept that you're not going to be on any favorites list when it comes to the staff/administration.

When we wrote our bylaws we considered letting the principal on the executive board, but felt that it wasn't for us. We're a group separate from the school, and wanted to keep it that way. She's kept abreast of all our activities, invited to all meetings, and has her powers as her position dictates. Teachers are only allowed to be regular members with voting rights(and therefore can be on the board) if they have a child currently attending our school. We figured this was fair, and that a teacher in that case would be more likely to act like a parent concerned for their child rather than look out for "number one."

This has been our experience with teachers:
Our PTO currently has a sub-teacher as President. I ran against her but due to the large amount of teachers (as well as Principal) that attended she won and she has not liked me since. Most of these teachers have not attended any meetings again - out of roughly 35 teachers only 5 are regular monthly attendees. Anyways, she is all about the teachers and not enough about the children at our school. She has pretty much alienated a lot of parents who once regularly attended meetings and helped out as much as they could at PTO sponsored events. She is too overbearing and is definately not open to new ideas unless they are her own. Some of us parents who have decided to remain involved want to do something about this but are not quite sure how to go about it? The teachers as well as the principal think she is just wonderful. I do not have a problem with helping the teachers out with classroom supplies (I donate quite a bit of supplies as well as time in my children's classes) but I do have a problem with teachers charging more for a field trip (this happened last school year) and then keeping the extra money for who knows what. We have brought this issue up several times at the meetings as well as to the Principal but the only answer we get is "we'll look into it". Recently, I brought it again with the PTO president and was told that the teacher kept the money for classroom supplies then I asked the Principal and he said "she was using it for a field trip later in the year" which was never scheduled. In our situation, I feel that having a teacher in such a prominent position on the PTO is a conflict of interest!! Our Vice-President (who is a parent) has recently resigned because of her and the fact that she wants to do everything herself and not include others in decisions, planning, etc. She has 1 year left on her term and its going to be a long one for those of us parents that are left. Any ideas or suggestions? :eek:

We just went through some changes at the school that would allow for the "elected" positions to be held by parents, creating 6 new positions for teachers only as well as allowing them to run for any of the committee positions. The repsonse we got back from the staff was we are discriminating and will sue. The fire is fueled by the Principal who is openly trying to get staff to run for ALL positions that will do away with parents. Anyone have any advice?

I think Michelle B said it all. We have no teachers on our board because of the potential conflict, they don't have a child in our school and they routinely can't make any of the extra meetings that the officers have.