Isn't everything voted on? How can a PTO membership be in agreement of such non-sense?

I know how difficult it can be to have great ideas but only have them shut out by "the Powers that be". Where my children attend, our PTO has not had to struggle with this as much.
But as a teacher I can understand the need of a principal standing up for their school. Where I teach our PTO keeps their focus on treats and playgrounds while we the teachers would rather build the schools library. We constantly feel as if we are the grown-ups reminding the PTO of what is important in their children's education.

Originally posted by JHB:
We went through this a couple times, and it wasn't a case of controlling principal but just hard financial times.

I still think JHB hit the nail square on the head here. come on, what is the Principal want with a PTO besides the $50k it's been raising for the school. Instead of sitting down and asking for help with textbooks and computers, she holds up a pen and says "Gimme!"

I always find "well, your tax dollars are paying their salary!!" to be hard to belive when i see my hometown loseing it's school because everyone is fighting property tax increases when they forget where the money is going to support the teachers of their K-12 school.

If the district, BOE, and (hey did the state BOE have a thought on the matter?) all feel the PTO is accountable and responsible to the Principal...not much anyone can do but to learn from it and beef up your by-laws to assure this can't happen. (I talking legal eagle kinda stuff in you by-laws if you can).

I could use the help, though!

[ 06-20-2006, 10:34 AM: Message edited by: mykidsmom ]

At our last meeting before our elections he came to the meeting and announced that he wanted to change from a PTA to a PTO. The reason for this was to make it easier for him to use the $60,000.00 we raised to buy books and desks.

Our strength is in our independence. If it is decided by the general membership to go from a PTA to a PTO the key factor will be I how strong the new bylaws are.

As a PTA the strength is in the Association. Why do you think the superintendent wants to leave PTA. He knows that by staying PTA you have the resources and thesupport of state and National to fall back on. Yes he truely is being a bully!

As taxpayers you pay his salary, and there are more of you then there are of him.

Do a little research on state laws, if you are an independent group with your own EIN number (as most PTAs are) then leagally he cannot control your funds.

I am sorry to here about your difficuties. Your Principall is using a tactic use by powerful people called bullying. This behavior is not appropriate for maximum support of the P.T.O. that the school needs. You must insist that you organiztion be treated with respect and dignity. You don not have to disclose any record to the principal, however you could use the PTO Manager software and give her access to the software. There is a free trial on this website. The P.T.O. has an Executive Board that consists of the President, Vice-President,Treasurer and Secretary. The principal must respect the Excutive Board members. If she has fears and doubts they should not be demonstrated through the P.T.O. The law states through No Child Left Behind that parental involvement monies must be allocated from the district budget at a rate of 10%. Is she disclosing her budget to you? If not she is breaking the law. The information should be published in her School Plan. The School Plan and the School Budget are public documents. Request to see the School Plan and the School Budget. Do not accept no for an answer and remember parents are partners in public education not students. I would like to see you succeed and refill the wind in your organizations sails.

Hang in there Bonbon8! Whether it's starting over with a new principal or walking away from a dysfunctional team, you'll do the right thing for the students. Based on the care and concern that's obvious in your posts, you have the best interests of the community in mind.

I once had to give up my most favorite volunteer position because I was unwilling (and unable) to work with the lead staff member. It was hard to do but ended up being the best possible solution. Said staff member moved on and things returned to normal.