Mommy-You and the secretary can come up with a skeleton by law outline and perhaps find someone interested in heading the committee. Then call a meeting with the Pres's and present both the outline and the volunteer. It will be especially helpful if you can have some names of volunteers ready to assist with the committee in order to strengthen your position to move forward. Any other committee chairs that you can bring on board--get their names and let the President's see their willingness to support. Then next year--you and or the sec should run for president and consider expanding your board so that more shoulders carry the efforts. We have a president, vp for operations and vp for fundraising, tresurer, first and second secretary. We also appoint our newsletter editor to the board when that is an apporpriate fit. Just seems to being more hands into the pie.
'The secretary and I have talked with the Principal and he basically said I don't know what to do"
sounds like a big part of the problem right there. how can you expect parent group leaders to be held accountable, if the principal (who does have some say and influence of the group EVEN IF you are indpendent) cannot give guidance, strong leadership,and be a role model, and help out when you request it, let alone give such a answer, that, if its really true, would raise some qestions in my mind about how is he running school matters, and does he know what to do in those 'harder' areas, if he cant even make some suggestions about your problems, whcih really should be surmountable?
good luck. sounds like you need more than just stronger parent group leadership, from what youve written.
I would like suggestions on how I should proceed with a problem already made. I am PTO Treasurer for our middle school (68) Our school has had an ongoing problem with the PTO dissolving mid year. It usually starts with 2 presidents, a secretary and a treasurer. I don't think by-laws have ever been enacted. The 2 presidents this year are new to the position and have good ideas and enthusiasm but run it as a dictatorship. They handle just about everything themselves - therefore, not much gets finished because they are too tired and stressed to do it properly. The secretary and I want to be involved but for the most part have been cut out of all communication. We are not informed of what they are doing. We did discuss making by-laws several times, but there again the presidents wanted to handle it and it never happened. They now want all of the record keeping done at the school only. I think having a base for the books is a good idea, but I am afraid that they will do the check writing and bookkeeping their way, by them (ongoing disagreement with how money is spent by them). I feel like quitting, which is what has happened every year with the PTO. NO parents attend meetings, most don't want to be involved at all. I don't want to give up on all the good that PTO's can do for the kids if they would run correctly. The secretary and I have talked with the Principal and he basically said I don't know what to do. Do you have any recommendations on the course of action the secretary and I can take at this point. Do we have any recourse without having bylaws? should we suggest that the PTO be disbanded until bylaws are implemented? Besides the principal who can we go to?
She's correct in that your group is controlled by the Bylaws. Whatever the Bylaws state regarding the questions you ask is how things are supposed to be done. Usually there is something within the Bylaws to answer the question. Even if there isn't a specific Bylaw rule there is usually something along the lines of "The Executive Committee can make the dicisions".
IF your organization has customs, this is good enough for the organization to use. The customs of an organization are binding unless and until there is an adopted document to supercede it. By writing down and having the board or membership adopt this document, you have written procedures and are off to a good start. Your custom, once written down, becomes a rule of order and is to be adhered to unless it conflicts with federal, state or local laws, your organization's bylaws or any governing document.
Are your rules in writing? That could be your problem right there. Having a formal set of bylaws, even very basic ones, can prevent situations like this. I don't know if Robert's Rules of Order would have anything like this in them.
In the elementary group I belonged to, we establish a budget every year for our typical programs, events, and expenses. The budget was approved by the membership and then that allowed the board to disburse those funds without having to vote on each item as they occurred. The board had the power to spend up to $100 for items not in the budget but deemed necessary, and any other items not in the budget or over that $100 limit were presented at general meetings and voted on by the members.
Not having an established set of financial practices can leave a group wide open to a few or even one board member just spending willy nilly and/or spending money on programs that the membership may not support.
Perhaps your next step would be to suggest that a new section be added to the bylaws covering financial practices. You can certainly find many fine examples on this site and surely one will fit your needs or can at least be modified to fit.
