9cyns, I can totally see your concerns. Again, not with the fact that a teacher is the President but the conflict of interest with it being the Principal's wife.
I'm actually surprised that she is allowed to teach at the school where her husband is Principal! But beyond that this, IMO, is akin to a husband and wife being the President and the Treasurer. It is unethical as it takes away the checks and balances that are very important.
If I was you I would get a copy of your Bylaws and take a look. More than likely there will be nothing in them about the Principal and someone related being an officer as it can't be that common, but there may at least be some information that would apply to the checks and balances that are needed to maintain the integrity of the group. It may be that the other executive committee members could ensure that this relationship does not become an issue based upon the Bylaws.
For example, my group's Bylaws explain that you must have two executive members to hold a vote. If this is the case with your group then at least she can't autmatically pass something through without some agreement by the parents.
A bigger concern could be, again based upon your Bylaws, if another teacher became an exectutive member and voting could take place simply between two teachers. This would be on the verge of taking the P out of PTO, which would not be a good thing.
Good luck and let us know how it works out.
PresidentJim
mommytlc;128131 wrote: Because there are too many PTOs being robbed by parents. Unfortunately, not everyone is trustworthy.
I have absolutely no problem with a parent being the treasuer of our association. The president and the entire board of elected people should be able to monitor and question if there is a problem or cause of concern. You would do this at every monthyl meeting when you finances are openly discussed and bank statement provided.
I'm so glad to come across this conversation. We're just starting our PTO, and as I think about it, I tend to agree with <panic in detroit>. At a recent monthly school meeting, it was quite apparent that the administrations interest in allowing us to form our PTO was purely to use it as a fund raising mechanism with very little accountability. The founders of our fledgling PTO were very discouraged with this representation. If we every come to be, I feel very strongly that our by-laws should state that the position of president can only be held by a parent who is not a paid member of the school district or directly related to one. Yes, it's only one vote, but as panic in detroit said, it's the perception of impropriety. On the other hand, since it is a PTO, the by-laws should also require that there be at least 2 teachers on the (5 member) board, and while I think it's okay for a teacher to be the Treasurer, the two teachers would not both be allowed to be signatories on the account.
The problem we're running into is that the administration is not presently willing to assign teachers to this effort.
If you have a strong team, the proper checks and balances in place and a bonded treasurer, then you shouldn't have to worry about theft.
It isn't about completely trusting an individual as much as trusting the system that the individual works in.
There are thousands of parents who are or have been successful, honest and trustworthy treasurers for their PTO groups.
I, for one, would be offended by a school that didn't 'allow' a parent in the treasurer role due to lack of trust. And I think a simple search of these message boards will show that principals, teachers, presidents, committee chairmen, etc have all been susceptible to wrong doing. They are, however, a very small portion of the larger parent group community. It takes a leap of faith to put so much accountability into someone's hands but a good support system should alleviate concerns.
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"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the true perfection of one's character."
