We are disbanding our PTA on June 15, 2001 and becoming a PTO! We are spending every penny we have on things for our school. If you don't have a "wish list" from the teachers on what they'd like, then think of what your school could really use or something that is old and needs replaced. FOLLOW YOUR BY-LAWS. THIS IS SOOOO IMPORTANT. If you don't, it could come back and bit you in the butt. Follow everything emonte suggests because it worked for us! Good Luck to you!!
illinois -Hi - just thought I would let you know that we just had a vote open to all membership. We won by a landslide. First thing I suggest, talk with the Principal maybe he could find out if the teachers are behind PTO. Can't stress this enough - follow the By-Laws exactly! You need a very dedicated group to do it (we did with 5 mothers) We sent a notice sheet home with facts to both PTA and PTO. Have your By-Laws handy at all times and if your not sure of them call a PTA representative, they must help you and give you the correct answer, don't accept no you can't do that - do you have anything to substantiate why we can't do.....Another thing to write up and vote on is how and what you will spend the rest of your money on in the school in case you disban, after discussion vote on this disbursement list. Make sure you announce the next meeting (has to be 30 days from this day) will be the day to vote PTO or PTA.
To make it easy on some of the parents and on the school staff we started our meeting 15 minutes prior to school letting out so they could vote at that time (3-4 p.m.) we numbered the ballots. Before voting a motion must be made that if this unit disbans this is what the money will be spent on. Before they vote have them look at it and if they agree initial by their name on an alphabetized membership list. During this hour 26 votes were cast. The President called a short recess from 4 until 7:30 so we could take care of the family and get dinner. The membership list, ballots, and ballot box was locked in the office until we returned. When you do the ballot box wrap top and bottom all together with a slot just big enough for the paper to go through. At 7:30 p.m the meeting was opened again and voting went from 7:30 to 9 p.m. President appoints the people to tally the votes (good idea to have a PTA rep counting and someone for PTO) This process may get heated at times; persevere if you have support. You have your work cut out for you. They will not make it easy for you and will try everyting to keep you PTA. Your hard work will pay off.
Illinois as for the funds left in your account that would have to be turned in to
the PTA. I'd make sure you don't owe any money to anyone and then buy something for
the school, you can't turn in what you don't
have.
We had a similar thing at our school 2 years ago. About 25 people were active in our PTA. Of that total, 21 of us wnated to go PTO. When the night of the vote came, the 4 PTA supporters had quietly arranged to have 15 other members show up and vote for staying a PTA even though those people were never active in our group and even though we could have got way more people to vote with us if we knew what they were going to do.
Actually, what we did was just start a PTO anyway. The PTA was still in existence, but it only had 4 people. Within 6 months those four people joined us. It was kind of messy for a little while but it worked. We wouldn't have had to do it that way if the 4 people hadn't been kind of sneaky about it. It was definitley confusing for the school to have 2 parent groups at the same time.
I'd check the requirement first. Is it a 2/3 vote of the entire membership or a 2/3 vote of those IN ATTENDANCE at a general meeting. From what I've seen of PTO and PTA bylaws, most actions are based on who is present, not a requirement of the entire membership. That may help. If the PTA is opposing your transition and trying to put up obstacles, I'd be careful how you word the question. Perhaps you want to say something like, "We want to confirm that the requirement is 2/3 marjority vote of members attending a general meeting." Good luck!
help!2/3rds vote to get out of pta? Our pta bylaws state we have to have a 2/3rds vote to get out of the pta,not to mention they THINK their getting the funds left over in the account. We do know ways around that. But the problem is if any school in the south suburbs of chicago has recently gone from a pta to a pto,or another form with this 2/3rds deal. It's pretty impossible to get that kind of votes, most of the pta members don't have anything to do with our school,you rarely see them, or get them to help out. So any ideas from anyone on a smooth transition. Our board is all for switching and the pta association does not want to help out, and see us go to a pto.
