Another piece of advice: even if you are sure you are right and she is wrong, pick your battles. Give in to things she feels strongly about if they don't hurt your cause and only fight for what you really, really want. It realy will help your relationship, or it should unless she is totally unreasonable.

The role of the principal is a tricky one. Hopefully it's spelled out in your by-laws (if you don't have any, now is the perfect opportunity to write them). If you do have by-laws but they don't address your issues, you should start writing down what you think the principal (and officers') roles and responsibilities are presently and have a meeting to discuss and refine them. Also, this could be a chance to establish the teacher advisor responsibilities (and if it's an elected position/appointed position and by whom!). Everyone needs to know who is responsible for what.

As far as the principal wanting to control things, I've learned this lesson the hard way. In the end, I've come to the following conclusions: a) it's her school and she is ultimately responsible for EVERYTHING that happens there--how time is used, how money is spent/lost, etc. and b) the parent organization is one that can either help her accomplish her goals or frustrate her in accomplishing her goals. You need to decide on which side of the equation you want to be.

Now I'm not saying that what she is doing is right, and she may be a hideous person to work with. But can you find a way to bring her on board with your ideas rather than fighting her the whole way? Can you find the courage and the grace to make this a win-win situation? That, in my opinion, is what leaders in ugly situations have to find a way to do. Otherwise your year is going to be miserable.

Hi April!!!! In our by-laws, our principal is suppose to be a mediator between us & the school. Only to offer input or suggestions as needed. With budget cuts my school closed, so I decided to join another one. Yes the principal ran the first meeting this yr. (the pres. was new last yr& didn't know the how-to's). She nominated me for pres. because I had experience. I ran the next meeting. I went in with an agenda (gotta have one). The only time she really ended up talking was to give the principal's report & give her input when needed. She's a very controlling & hard to person to get along with. I went in with the attitude that I run the meeting & she's there for guidance. I did compromise on our budget for her as she asked for $$$ I didn't think she needed to spend. I did make it clear that we need receipts & stuff needed to be voted on or no reimbursement. As for teachers,any teacher may come to pto meetings. Usually it's the teachers who decide on who's going to be the liasions. Yes, teachers can hold office positions. We had one that was our secratary. Good luck!!!!! Remember..... AGENDA & stick to it.

my name is april kerley and i am new at the whole pto business. everyone on our board is new this year and they have thrown us into it.our principal is also new this year but was asst. principal for the past 2 yrs.she is trying to take over the whole board telling us what we can and can't do with pto but didn't give us any guidelines.i went to the school board and got a set and we only have to go to her if it is something involving students, construction on school property, or the outlook of the school as a whole.she doesn't want any teacher to be on the board(and i thought that is what the t in pto was stood for).she wants to appoint a teacher advisor but she wants it to be who she wants not us.she doesn't want to send out a memo to the teachers and let them volunteer.to me this is stepping on toes.she always goes to the same two teachers for everything.she has also told us she doesn't want our teachers handling any money for pto.well i work full-time, coach sports, on the rec. board, plus pto, and have a set of twins (boy,girl).i cannot stop my day to come to he school at 8:00 am to collect money.she told we have some sticky fingers in the school and don't want the teachers to handle it.i am sorry but she should haven't told us that.it was wrong on her part.if she has a problem like that in her school she should handle that problem without telling parents about it unless it involves a student and you are the parent.i don't know what to do in this situation.i am at the point of telling her how i feel even if it is not right.i understand we should go to her about somethings but it is as if she cannot handle not being in control.she also has two fundraisers going at the sametime one is pto and the other is a yo-yo sale.she let the kids out of class for the yo-yo show but wouldn't let us have an assembly for our cookie dough sale.saying it would take away from class time.i don't get it!!!!????i need help on how to handle everything.please email me on how to help the situation.i am not sure how it works but i don't think principals can be a president of pto.how can i fix my problem if she won't or don't want to listen to anything i say.

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