CC thank you. We currently have in our bylaws that the President is the ex officio of all committees. That has been very clearly communicted to this person throughout the year. Thank you for including the portion of your bylaws about the President appointing committee chairs. I do think if we add that to our bylaws (of course we will vote on it) that will certainly help I also saw some other posts on this sight that said they draw up a code of conduct and expectations for committee chairs that they are all asked to sign and if they do not live up to those expectations they are asked to step down. Though I would hate to have to do that it would certainly help situations such as ours. Unfortunately we have had 2 occurences this year with chairs going "willy nilly" even after there has been clear direction on what their committees included. Some of our committees have budgets that they need to stay within when planning such events and they are given a written outline of what was done the year prior which explains how and what was purchased to bring their budgeted amount for that event to what it is. These committees are told that they need to stay within budget and in this instance break even at the event (in the past a profit was always made) unfortunately they did not break even - did not honestly communicate to the President as to what was being planned. And at the day of the event it was quite the surprise and even more so when their receipts were turned in for reimburssment for items that should have been returned to the PTO's storage area at the school - they were not. This committee was questioned and pretty much had an answer (though because the PTO Board was at this event) knew the answers were not true - and the PTO Board felt that our hands were tied and left it as is. Now these are the same people that feel "they are Chairs of a committee and do not need to get approval from the Board" not only does their planning involve questionable reimburssments but there are also some bad decisions made that affect school policy. Honestly as President I feel that the PTO Board - especially the President is accountable for the doings of the PTO - that is why we simply put that the President is ex officio of committees. Hopefully you can see from this post that there is leeway and trust given to these committees by our PTO Board but this year we just got bitten quite bad and are trying to prevent it from happening next year.

I think too, it is important to establish an aire of communication vice subordination in these things. You do have folks like our dear Shawn who while not used to having to check in, but if you are able to establish a friendly helping information sharing sense...you will often get more information than you bargain for.
d

and remember a lot of us (ME) are ovezealous when it comes to our schools and childrens education and arent used to having to check in with others to get a job done or life just gets in the way no matter what our good intentions (been there, done that, even dropped the ball).

Checks and balances and procedures as CC stated above- and make sure the people know the procedures and polices ( I know tons that have the info and checks and balances AND lots that dont- make it accessible -- ie personally give policies and Job descriptions to chairpersons, board membes , etc -- take a deeeep breathe -- then remember they're volunteers not trained employees)

Just coming and looking for answers shows me (at least) your taking both sides of the issue and working towards and amicable agreement (instead of 'laying down the LAW')

A great communicator and modivators (sp?) listens, listens, asks questions then makes decisions (somtimes with others).. Kudos and good luck

This is a common and frustrating problem. It's hard to say for any one person what motivates them to over-commit and fail to follow through. Whatever the reason, systems can be put in place to help control it. For example, my last bylaws said:

Section 10 – President

The president shall preside at all PTO Board meetings. The President is an ex-officio member of all committees, except the Nominations Committee. The President shall appoint all committees and shall designate a chairman of such committees subject to Board approval.

Because of this one clause, the board had a lot more control over who was appointed as chairmen. If we felt any one person was over committed or lacked the specific talents for a committee, we didn't have to appoint them simply because they volunteered. This is a tricky clause because if it's used to exclued people, you develop a clique perception and can drive people away from your group.

Some groups have additional clauses in their bylaws or a separate policies and procedures manual that outlines the chairman's roles, rules, obligations, etc.

While you may just have to roll up your sleeves and dig out of this year's mess, consider revising the bylaws and/or your policies and procedures manual to give the board more control.

Finally, regarding her "this is my committee, I can do what I want" mentality, that's just wrong. It's great when trusted volunteers can work independently with little or no oversight but they all still do answer to the board and to the membership.

Has anyone had any experience with Committee Chairs dropping the ball for their committee? At the same time, that SAME Committee Chair that does not always follow through with their committee, "volunteers" to chair many other committees? And then they continue to not completely fill their obligation to those committees as well. As the year goes on they have tons of ideas and make blanket promises that they can help with yet other committees and PTO events. Sometimes some things materialize but the list of promises and ideas that NEVER materialized is greater. When the PTO Board approaches this person and calls them on their lack of follow through they take it as they are being attacked and have even stated to other members on their committee that "they do not need to get the PTO Board involved. I am the Chair of this committee and have the right to plan accordingly." How does a PTO Board tell a "volunteer" of this nature that they must limit the committees as well as the type of committees that they are "willing" to chair for next year? Also, the committees that this person wants to be a chair on are the committees/events that are the most involved and difficult to plan and have the LARGEST budgets. These are committees that the PTO MUST not have a "pie in the sky" Chair but a person that WILL FOLLOW THROUGH and use their head and stay in constant contact with the PTO Board while in the planning stages of the events that these committees are responsible for. HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!