wrknmom - with no bylaws you are presumably a service branch of the school, which gives the principal say over all of your activities, not just spending funds.

Even as a service branch, you should have bylaws. A good principal will respect those bylaws and the role that the parent group asks him/her to play within the group.

Is one of your goals for the school year to create and adopt bylaws? I, for one, think it would be a good idea! Your current members, principal and teacher reps could certainly work together to draft basic bylaws.

[ 08-21-2006, 04:51 PM: Message edited by: CrewChief ]

Question. Does the PTO have a say on where the money goes or does the say come from the Princ.
We have no by laws. No order in the past.
Where do I begin?
DDD

Old threads come back to live God bless Al Gore for inventing the internet... hey PTOCES is he still hiding out in TN? (at UT I think?)

With regard to the urban legend...I too have heard of them! As a matter of fact I evolved one to fight for recess in our county.

In the area I live, county politics is strong and much of the administration on the district level and the individual school level believes in keeping parents "dumbed down". There is a lot of he said/she said and finger pointing in every direction for who is the correct person to talk to for resolution. It is "clear as mud" as they say, trying to know who can really help you with an issue.

After working my way through the local and county protocol (principal, school improvement council, school board, superintendent) and really feeling not heard...I pulled out the big guns and gathered the troops, got a petition going around town and called the press (that really got everyone's attention).

With a small band of parents, we birthed a "coalition" of sorts. It is a group that stays on top of issues and fights for the rights of our children in a way that teachers (and even administrators) are afraid to stand up for fear of losing thier jobs. However, I can tell you, it can be a risky game for your children if you press too hard...around here things can be made difficult for them by you being labelled a trouble maker.

I wish you luck!

Shawn

The alligator/ditch/NO quote is to be found here:

blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/06/eyes_of_texas_w.html

Have fun surfing.

Thanks,I was agreeing with you, loved post above, your qoute (about the ditch) I gotta find the Author so I can use it on my personal webspace and blog.

I do agree the parents that arent afraid to express their ideas, concerns, fight for their (and others education) and discuss them with others have less freedom sometimes for fear of repercussions (especially since the courts rule and some public opinion is swinging to the minority viewpoint)- as for ultraliberal CA- they]re a bunch of ninnies here in CA (specially Sacramento and SFran)- sometimes think I'm the only semi-ultraconservative in the whole state (I live above the largest Republican county in the Nation but they dont act like me)

[ 06-04-2006, 11:03 PM: Message edited by: Shawn ]