barefootnana, these ideas sound really good, but our school did do the same thing. one of the nomination slips ended up not getting turned in by the teacher on accident. no one knew about the nomination slip until it was too late. unfortunately, she was not one to step foward and say something. her feelings got hurt and has never returned. so be careful!!! She was one we didn't want to loose.
Originally posted by ihad2muchcoffee: We have a very simple ballot form to send home, and you can take a look at it if you'd like. We plan to attach a short statement from the nominee explaining why he/she wants to be part of the PTO. There's also an election flyer we plan to send out.
How formally have you been following your bylaws? In a perfect world, you follow them, you have two or more people begging the nomination committee to pick them and you have someone running from the floor to oppose every office. Everyone is excited!
Then there is the reality. You need a board and no one is stepping up to the plate. You're running out of time and you're on your way out and you have two people willing to take the reigns.
I would put out there that you are looking to fill all positions and put forth your nominees at the next meeting as you intended. Notify parents that the election will be happening and when/where and vote. If someone runs from the floor, put out slips of paper to vote but if not, do the vote by voice and move on with planning for next year.
We have a very simple ballot form to send home, and you can take a look at it if you'd like. We plan to attach a short statement from the nominee explaining why he/she wants to be part of the PTO. There's also an election flyer we plan to send out.
I don't know of any pre-made form. You should be able to create your own in Word or similar.
We send home nomination forms prior to our election. The nomination forms are sent to the entire school - regardless of whether they are PTO members or not. The nominees are called to confirm they will accept the position they have been nominated for.
We rarely need to have actual elections. Generally there is only one name for each spot. But this year we had an election for both VP and Secretary.
Our election was held at the meeting - paid members received a ballot. But we have also done a "send home" ballot to all members that included an envelope for the sealed ballot to be returned to school.
Unless your bylaws state that elections must be held "in person" a take home ballot should be fine. The problem will be getting ballots back to school to be counted. Parents who aren't involved tend to not look at the items that are sent home in backpacks or bother to return items to school. Maybe teachers could make returning the ballot a "homework" assignment or extra credit item. That tends to work best for the things we MUST have returned to school.
Good luck! After serving various positions while my oldest went through the school, I am now the President elect. My eldest graduated 6th grade and the following year my middle child began kindergarten, so after 8 yrs of dodging the bullet, I'm due. I'll be here a while yet... I have one more to get into the building!
I am the PTA President and will be stepping down since my youngest is leaving the school.
I was so hoping the board would stay on and someone would step up to President. Some are not willing to stay on. Elections need to take place but few parents attend the meetings and we are supposed to send home written notice. There is a parent willing to be President and one that will be Secratary. Is there a form ballot that can be sent home, that has there names by those positions as being willing to do them with a blank for any other nominations and then just blanks by the other positions ? Our by laws state that you must be a member in good standing for thirty days to vote or nominate yourself or anyone else. Only a person willing to be nominated can be nominated. We thought an absentee ballot sent to the 80 or so members we have would be the best way to get a bit more involvement.
