but 1 person basically says no to coming.

and

...but again that member tends not to respond to any emails

Okay - I may sound a little harsh here, don't mean to, just my opinion but... why is this member on PTO? If they can't make the commitment to help, give input, make the meetings, then maybe they should let someone else step into their place? I tell my kids (e.g., sports), if you're not going to be able to put forward an honest commitment, then don't do it (whatever sport or activity"it" might be)

Why is there always 1?

You know, if four outta five can met and set the tone for the meeting for the evening then I would go with it. I would make sure that the "opposing" member recieves a copy of all the notes that were taken at your Board mtg to avoid them being able to claim this was behind their back.

now if a majority couldn't make it them there is room for compromise but one person does not worry me.

We do a monthly board meeting. At that meeting we work on details of issues...ask committee chairs to be there if they have a big part coming up etc. Our general meetings are left for the big picture types of things. Setting our azimuth for the year, voting on priorities, treasury updates and feedback. We have done brainstorming sessions etc which have given folks input on where we are heading. We constantly communicate via emails, webpages, newsletter that is consistently 8 pages long and weekly fliers on upcoming events. That really allows our meetings to be shorter and I'm bound and determined to keep them to one hour....d

Thank you. And no you are not rambling. :)We have 4 board members and 1 principal. And what I am running into is the consensus is yes to a Board meeting, but 1 person basically says no to coming. 1 of the other members has suggested meeting 1 hour before the regular meeting which will help, since this other member will not come to any other meeting that may be held. I would love to do group email discussions to cover topics prior to a meeting...but again that member tends not to respond to any emails we send out anyway. But I am still going to try...and see what happens.

Ultimately, if you can do that probably depends on the by-laws that you follow. If you don't have any set by-laws, what's the majority opinion?

We have general meetings every other month, beginning in September. In the alternate months, for example this October, we have a board meeting at the school with the principal to go over any new ideas/thoughts that have been brought to our attention, details on events planned etc, so we can better get that information out at our next general meeting.

Am I rambling? Does it make sense? Ugh, Mondays.....

We also use "e-mail votes" for board voting if someone couldn't make the board meeting. There are 6 of us on the board, if at least 4 of us can't make it, we would postpone it.

Hope it's some help.

Hi. Our PTO meetings are quite long and I am looking into how I can organize and make them run smoothly. Part of the reason may be that we have no Board meetings. One member has pushed that the board meeting be held 1/2 hour before the PTO general meeting. This is the only time we have any face to face contact. I am finding that this 1/2 hour does not give us enough time. We usually get through one topic. Which then our meeting later---is quite long and not as organized as it could be. Board members are not fully aware of a topic, and parents tend to be confused. Things get missed being put on the agenda, etc etc. I am thinking of having 1 board meeting a month prior to the next PTO meeting.

My question is...can the board meet...if 1 member is not able to come? Is it still a board meeting if we take notes?

I still wish to meet the 1/2 hour before so we can still organize our thoughts, talk to the principal, verify the agenda, and go over topics with any board member(s) who could not attend. And we would also send out an email with the notes to the non-attending member.

Can we do this???