I understand the she is responsible for the well being of the school. But what tends to happen in this situation with her is that it gets to where the officers and the parents do all of the work and labor to bring everything in but it has to be on her terms.
She is not off color, or rude in the least but I do think there needs to be a little more order to the process. The presidents before me have let anyone in the meeting make motions and vote.
Isn't that the reason we have a board is to make the best decisions for the PTO?

When I have been officers in other organizations it has been a lot more orderly in fashion. I am completely supportive of getting fresh perspective on the tasks at hand but the conversation can get out of control, and lengthy.

I think it will be a good year but we hope she will be a little more lienient about letting us do what we need to, to make this year productive.

Thank you for getting back to me Critter!
I appreciate it very much. Wish me luck tonight!

Do your bylaws speak to the principal's role on your board? I know our bylaws list the principal as a voting member of the exec board. You know you can't just arbitrarily dismiss the principal if the bylaws say she is a member of the board. But, she should have only one vote.

That said, I don't think it's all that unreasonable for the principal to have a say in the items you listed. It is her building after all, and he does have control over how information is disseminated through his classes and students. You're on the right track with trying to run the PTO like a business. Hopefully with good, fair rules in place and a sincere welcoming attitude, you'll get everyone *(even the principal) on the same page.

I am so confused. I was under the understanding that since so much of the PTO money went to the staff of the school, that it was a conflict of interest for the principal to be a voting member of the executive board.
I am the newly elected President at our school. The president last year was a staff member of the school. In being staff she would open the discussion at our meetings and the principal would take over. The pres. would make decisions between her and the principal without even consulting with the other officers.

It was like watching a train wreck! I even lost in the election to this woman last year. I have no intensions on letting the pricipal take over the PTO. I want to be respectful to her but at the same time I am concerned.
I want to work with the other officers,the teacher liasion, and the principal.
I don't even feel that the pricipal should be voting member of the executive commitee.

I am working on my agenda for our first meeting of the year to be held on 9-12-06.
Should I omit the principal as an executive board member? I feel it is the right thing to do , but I fear in upsetting her. She means well, she just wants to have a little more controll than I think she should. She wants to decide dates of fundraiser, what time we can have the building, how many tables we use, she wants to proof :confused: read all of our correspondence to the parents before it goes out and regulate how much goes out.

The PTO at our school is very lazy when it comes to rules. They hate it that I am so insistant in having accurate ByLaws in place. They think we need to just adjust as we go along.
We expect our children to follow guidelines to ensure the safety and order for their lives. Why don't we need that even as a non profit organization?
That is what ByLaws are for. To keep things in order. To protect us from ourselves. I do not want politics to get involved.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me? I would appreciate it very much!