We feel that a teacher should be treasurer due to convenience and the fact that it is a P T O. Our treasurer is our librarian (media specialist to be pc) and she will not write a check for anyone over a few dollars if it has not been approved by the board which includes a sub teacher, a sub aide, and a mom that works at a lawyers office. First and formost these people are parents (the treasurer is the guardian of her grandchild) and the best interests of the kids are put first. I am sure she has upset the principal a couple of times and we know she has upset the teachers several times, she was elected to do her duties as the by laws states and she does it well.
Actually, this year our treasurer is a teacher. We have no problems at all because everything is done by the book. She is also our "web master" for our website. She is our school's computer teacher and I am really glad to have teacher participation. We have no problem with this at all!
Our bylaw committee recently got together to change the bylaws to state the following: Staff or Faculty couldn't run for any of the "elected" positions. This was due to a conflict of interest. We actually had a situation at the beginning of the year where the Principal didn't want to give the Art Dept. the amount of money we had voted on. The board overrode that and gave it to her anyway. The art Dept. is 100% supported by PTO. If it was a Teacher run board then it would have been against it because the Principal sits on the board. Lets face it - the Principal is their boss and if he feels strongly about something then I feel they would vote his way.
He has been petitioning Teachers to run for President, 1st VP, 2nd VP - basically attempting to stack the board w/staff and faculty. He also makes decisions WITH the board in the meetings but then tells the Teachers he has nothing to do with it. We have a situation right now where the Teachers do not like the PTO because they feel they are being discriminated against. With the proposed changed bylaws we would be including 5 Faculty/Staff positions that would be voting positions.
In my opinion, if a Teacher is..lets say.. Treasurer and their boss walks out requesting a check for something that does not directly benefit the kids, are they going to look into it further or write the check? Here is an example (that we have had happen...but many many more): The Principal e-mails myself and the Treasurer asking PTO to give them a $500.00 for a dinner the District is having for Teacher Appreciation. The cost is $500.00 per table and seats 10. The PTO President is invited with his/her spouse but the other 8 seats are Teachers/Staff. Why would PTO pay for such a Table when we could do something with that money to benefit the children?
Some may disagree - but I do not think Teachers/Staff should be on the 6 "Elected" positions. Anyone have any comments?
