Maybe because of the president's relationship with the principal, she feels like she can't step down. I know how it feels to be so totally overwhelmed with everything and feel like you can't back out. Could that be her problem? I know it's alot easier to divide out tasks and not have to worry about every detail. Hopefully, with encouragement from her board and dividing work out she'll see how much better it can be. I hope it goes well for you. If not, maybe you should suggest that she step down if she doesn't feel like she has time to devote to it.

We have a similar problem with our PTO, only it is our president that doesn't want to do anything.I am VP, and the secretary and I do everything. We have only had one meeting and are planning our big fall fundraiser and already the pres is backing out of duties she said she would perform (little things like getting cakes donated for the cakewalk). She says she doesn't have the time. This is her second year and last year was pretty awful--lots of projects planned but not carried out, things done half-heartedly, and some financial mismanagement by the treas. that the pres didn't keep on top of by requiring monthly financial reports. I was a member last year but decided to get more involved this year and volunteered to be VP. Already I am ready to quit for lack of cooperation on the part of the pres and sec.feels the same way I do!

Finally, after a big blowup via email last night, I suggested all officers sit down together sometime before our next full PTO meeting and get some things straightened out, such who needs to be doing what, etc. The sec wants to ask the pres to step down because it is so frustrating to try to work with her, as we find ourselves working around her, plus she doesn't return email,give any kind of leasdership, etc. The pres and our principal are pretty close, so this adds to the trouble. I would love to hear from anyone who has suggestions for us!

I am fortunate to have a co-president, and we think a lot alike, so that works well for us. But even without a co-pres--we met with all of our officers and chairs (we even created chair positions) and asked each of them what they thought their job would entail. Then we told them what we wanted to add to their jobs. Then we typed that up and sent it to them so that we would all know. I would encourage you to meet separately with all of your officers and have a similar discussion. Also, look at your by-laws, which should spell some of the duties out. Often, the positions include something like "and other duties as determined by the president". And since that's you, you are well within your place to ask them to help with the work.

We go over what each of us has time for and what we don't mind doing. This works well because each gets something they like to do even if they get some stuff they don't like. For instance, I don't mind doing the shopping or most of the errands because I'm already out and someone else likes making phone calls because she can do it at home. I have the best computer programs so I usually make up the correspondence while someone else delivers it. We usually discuss this no later than the first meeting. It's much more realistic than demanding the person who takes said job must do said activities but someone has to be willing to delegate and make sure it all gets done.

I took for granted that being PTO President meant I was responsible for EVERYTHING our pto did. I burnt out in 5 months!! I decided this year that I wasn't going to do that. I'm not able for one thing and it should not all fall on one person. I sat down with my officers and we talked about what all we needed to do and I typed up some Officer Expectations and they agreed to them. Each one of us decided what we would be able to do and it's been great so far. I learned a new word after last year, DELEGATE.

How do all of you divide duties between all the officers? It seems for our PTO that the Predident position does most of the work for everything. What specific tasks do you give to each position? Any advice would be appreciated.
I knew that taking on the pres position would take a lot of time and work but this seems like way more than it needs to be. Just not sure what other PTO's do or is this the norm.

Cindy