C.Brooks,
God gives us strength and you have alot of it. Take a deep breath and let it go.
Now start fresh. School starts soon you need to talk to the super or prin. of the school and let them know hey not sure but need to get this taken care of soon. There is no reply maybe you(prin) could call. On the Vp you will have someone step up. All you can do is what you can handle. Is your sec. much help maybe she/he knows someone to help chip a hand in and become vp. We are putting out bylaws on website soon and you are more then welcome to them. Will be posted 8/10/05. Just remember YOU ARE 1 Person.
Our treasurer also prints out a monthly paper to pass out to us. When is the last time actually seen the check book? and how much is in it? Are the bills paid?
What a dream. A CPA treasurer. [img]smile.gif[/img]
I am really hoping this girl is having technical difficulties or is on a long vacation. I know some of here family members (cousins) and I haven't heard anything about family sickness. Hopefully it is not that.
It keeps getting better. My VP just called me tonight. She is resigning effective immediately. For personal reasons. Kinda complicated but I completely understand. So I can't be mad at her. I still want to sit down and cry. She was a good one. This summer she has helped me so much with understanding things because her child was at this school before. She has also helped me do alot of stuff at school. I hate to see her go, but like I said I do understand her reasons.
Now I am acting as treasurer, VP, and Pres. I have a paper and a test due this weekend and school starts Monday. And oh yeah, I need a paying job. Yep, just a little stressed right now.
I plan on giving blood tomorrow. So that should make me feel better. Ha Ha. I do not donate as often as I should. I am a big chicken and there is no reason to be. It doesn't hurt and only takes a few minutes. (Just thought I'd make a plug for the American Red Cross while I had the opportunity )
If you would like a copy of our by-laws as a guide to do yours, you're more than welcome to a copy.
As for the three signature account, it's actually an ideal situation. That's another reason for by-laws, they state who is authorized to sign.
We are blessed that our treasurer is also a CPA and when she gives her treasurer report at meetings, she passes out itemized copies of all of the account activity to every member present and goes over everything.
I totally agree with Momof1 on doing a certified letter.
If you've tried several times to reach her, then send a certified letter asking that the treasurer's records be returned to the school. At least you can show that you have tried to have them returned if you have to.
I don't blame you for being paranoid, no one ever expects something bad to happen but it does happen.
At the elementary the checks and receipts were kept in a locked cabinet. Anytime I needed to see something my treasurer popped it up in seconds on her very detailed Quicken program. I do not understand why anyone would need to take it out of the building. After years on here reading day after day about embezzlement and theft from all over the nation, I am rather paranoid.
We have no bylaws. The plan was to make a rough draft for the members to vote on. I was on the revision committee when I was pres at the elementary. I know how some of it works, it is the getting started part I am not sure about.
It should only take one person to handle the Bash. The school orders seperate things for it, this school will be using PTO funds, apparently. The elementary purchased their's with SBDM and other monies. It is up to the school's PTO on whether they want to set up a booth or not. I think I (PTOer)was actually the first one to send in an application for a PTO booth because I have never noticed any other PTOs set up. The elementary still continues and since there was no PTO at this school last year at the begining of the year,this was our first time too. The board members just handle that, it is also a great way for us to get to know each other.
You don't want to have too many signers on your account. It would be too easy to confuse things and make mistakes that could be frustrating and costly.
On the bright side. At our sixth grade Open House the turn out was AWESOME!! I was glad that so many families attended.
[ 07-27-2005, 04:33 PM: Message edited by: C. Brooks ]
Our parent group is PIE (Partners In Education) so the way we are able to run things may be a bit different than PTO. After reading your post, perhaps a few suggestions? A new group inherited this organization in February of 2004. I have been president since that time. First, our checking account is a TWO signature account and there are THREE authorized check signers, president, vice president and treasurer. That way if a check needs to be signed it's not so hard to try and find someone to get it done and there is no question about money spent. Second, our checkbook DOES NOT EVER leave the school at any time (we have that stated in our by-laws). When we get our audits done in the summer, it is done by bank statement, all receipts kept and the checkbook ledger.
The next thing you had concerns with was your by-laws. Aren't changes to by-laws a group decision? We have it stated in ours that "proposed amendments must be submitted in writing and may be submitted at any regular meeting" and second, "a two-thirds vote of the members present at the meeting shall be required to pass an amendment".
Maybe creating the position of a Back To School Bash committee would help things and take some of the pressure off of you. Everything that's done on any of our committees has to be approved either by myself or the vice president with all details given.
If you as president don't feel like your current treasurer is doing her job, than you should make the decision of putting someone else in that office. This past May, we also created (had to be presented and voted on by all) the position of assistant treasurer. This creates another board spot and also gets someone else used to the way things are done in case something does happen to the current treasurer.
I hope this helps you out some! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, I'd be glad to help!
Good luck!
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