What does your Bylaws state regarding membership of your group? For example, my group, every parent and staff member are automatically members of the PTO. If this is the case then no big deal, except the wording being used by your Principal is faulty. If a parent or staff member has to pay dues to be considered a member then I agree with everyone else that this is a bad policy, and worse, as a PTO President I would not be happy with the Principal promoting this without being notified, as it directly affects the outlook of my group with the people that we want to affect.
You all make very valid points but I don't agree.
I don't know all the facts regarding this particular PTO but ours has similiar rules and they don't seem to be a problem. All class parents must be PTO members and all volunteers and chairpersons must be PTO members.
No one has ever challenged the legality of these rules.
And truthfully, PTO members are the only ones who WANT to do these things anyway.
Our small private school has declared that by virtue of having a student in the school, parents/guardians are automatically "members" of the PTA. It costs nothing to join. Each family is required to volunteer a set number of hours to support the school with time/talent/treasure. We do require background checks every three years if you plan to work directly with the kids, chaperoning, leading after-school groups, etc. We also require those who would work directly with the kids to attend a 2 1/2 hour sexual abuse awareness course. The completion certificate is kept on file in the school office.
