Thank you all for your help!!! I really do appreciate it. We have a pres, vp, accts. payable, accts. receivable, recording sect, corresponding sect, fundraising rep, delegate. The pres & treasurer don't give information as to what our $ goes to throughout the year in her newsletter. The principal also hasn't given any information about her spending either. At the last meeting I asked why they don't have her ledger with them as it's public knowledge where our money goes. They just sort of looked at me with blank faces. They all work/volunteer in her office so I think they just don't want to ask her. But, at Thursday's meeting, it will be brought up loud & clear. I will demand a list of every dollar brought in & every dollar given out. I think if the parents know what they're money is going towards it'll be easier to raise funds. Showing them what we've accomplished & what we hope to accomplish next year is important...and a simple concept in my opinion. Why it hasn't been done, I don't know. THe newsletters are basically "we need volunteers for this & that", nothing informative or something to entice them to the meetings. Please, they never even sent out letters letting us know how poorly the PTO meetings had been. Alot of parents are in the dark. I will hopefully change that... [img]smile.gif[/img] They're all exhausted & tired of trying to get people. BUt my friend & I have gotten 6 people to commit to positions & more to start going to the meetings, so I don't really know how hard they tried. Like I said, I volunteered, they knew my name & face & never said two words about what was going on. I'm asking to see her folder on everything she did this year so I can be better informed with everything before the meeting. We'll see, should be interesting...lots of parents with questions I couldn't answer, so they're going to have to. Thanks again & I'll keep ya posted!
Hi Ladybug!
First and foremost, Thank you for caring about your group! I'm amazed at how often those two words are not said when they could really make a difference!
Now.....I have just spent the year as the Prez. with less than 1% of our membership attending so we talked to the school board about disbanning. (We turned to the board as we are a committee of the board.) After discussion, they want to help us better our parent involvment and really don't want to see us disband. I also learned that each school in our district is asked by the school district to have a PTO/PTA. This may be an interesting place to start a little research. The school district office. Keep talking to the parents and the word of mouth you have been doing. If you pick up your child(ren)even better time to catch parents! I learned through this way many didn't even know we had a PTO! (This really hurt as I do the newsletter! OUCH!) Anyway....This letter issue is maddness but you need to move past it. You know really what this sounds like to me, your current Pres doesn't want the job anymore or needs help. Please forgive me if I'm way in left field, just a hunch.
Who does the newsletter? Do you have a newsletter? Concerning the meeting date, can posters be posted to let parents know? My group's election is next Monday and I am interested to see just how many people will show. We truely have a membership issue and communication is one of the major issues. I let everyone know when the meetings are and no one listens!
I hope I have made some sense and you are able to make some head way! [img]smile.gif[/img]
lbug-i would send out your letters tomorrow without going through the principal. we are lucky enough to have a very supportive principal but we do most of our own copying and distributing as well as fundspending. you still have a day or so to let the parents and teachers know what is going on before the meeting so try and boost the attendance. you could also have the people you've been talking to start bombarding the principal with phone calls about your pto going. get the teachers you know are for your group in on it too. and have all those people invite one person to the meeting as well. do that with the present officers too.
on the other stuff - our bylaws don't have anything on disbanding but plenty on how to spend and account for the money we raise. be armed with information and a plan of action for your meeting, including a written version of what it is you want to say so you don't forget if things go awry. GOOD LUCK!
I'm a little puzzled because your Treasurer has to know where the PTO's funds are going.
Do you have a Pres, VP, Sec, and Treasurer?
The Treasurer is resonsibile for all fund being distributed and the Pres or VP (one or the other) must sign the checks, if indeed you have a checking account and a nonprofit status.
Do you funds get funneled through the Principal in some way that I'm not clear on?
You should start with the top and work your way down through the ranks.
I don't have a lot of experience with the Exec Board goings on but something doesn't seem right.
Maybe one of the past Pres on this site can help out more.
According to our bylaws, you will want to check yours, if you don't have a Pres. and a Treasurer you can't run the organization.
I don't think you are overreacting when you talk about your Principal, we have just like her but she can't touch our money but she does manipulate the our Current Pres. Principals can be a pain if you loet them. Her not coming to the meetings could be to your advantage. Ours constantly wants to be involved and quite frankly we would rather her do the job that the district pays her to do and just be there in an advisor.
By no means do I consider myself expert - there are so many with more info - Critter, TheMetzyMom, I could go on and on - try emailing them for perhaps a faster respones. Here's my .02 in case you don't get it elsewhere? Are there bylaws? If so - there should be info on how to go about changing the bylaws which would include disbanding, be sure those are followed. I would also suggest that if they do disband you ask to have the books audited before that happens and that a plan is in place for any $$$ that is there right now. If they have 501c3 status there are regs as to how the $$$ has to be disbursed upon dissolution. I do not understand why any principal would want there to NOT be a PTO - though I realize that it happens - I just don't get it!!!! Good luck to you and if there's anything else I can tell you let me know and I'll do my best to help! Keep us posted as to what happens!
I have been visiting this site for awhile collecting ideas because I'm running for Pres. for next year. I have some questions & I really could use your help. At last month's meeting the board decided that PTO would disband due to lack of interest/attendance. I was shocked. I had only been able to attend a few meetings due to work, but I always volunteered & thought things were okay. My friend & I asked them that if we could get board members for next year, could we keep PTO going. They were enthusiastic & hoped we could pull it off. I typed a letter to all the parents letting them know PTO would disband unless we got support at this last meeting. The current PTO president (who is the principal's secretary BTW) & the principal approved my letters (I wrote one to the teachers also) & said they would send them out. That was on April 30. Today, I called the school to ask the pres. why the letter hadn't gotten out yet. She immediately put me through to the vice princ. & I was told that "after a discussion with the princ. they decided not to send it because it looked like they were siding with me." and that some teachers were offended by my letter. My letter was not offensive, it stated that without PTO many of the items the teachers got this year wouldn't have happened. THat next year, they won't have the PTO as an option to request items administration can't give them due to money. We just approved a lamination machine that they weren't going to get otherwise. My friend & I have talked to several parents that had no clue PTO was disbanding. Most of them said, "I thought the PTO meetings were full so I didn't go." or "I don't have a sitter & they never tried to work with me." After talking with them, all of them said that they would go to the meeting to show support & 6 of them said they would take a position on the board. Lack of communication plain & simple. Also, the meeting was to be held on the 7th. Now it's been moved to the 9th due to a levy/voting on the 7th. The letter that was approved by the principal & PTO pres read that the meeting was on the 7th about 5 times. If that wasn't the correct date, why didn't they tell me right there? When it was changed, why didn't they tell me? They knew I was getting people together for this meeting. I tried to ask them these questions, but when I called the school today, they weren't "in". I am new to all of this, but I am willing to do whatever it takes to get this thing going. I have alot of questions for this meeting on the 9th. THe princ. never goes to the meetings, & the PTO doesn't even know what the fundraising money was spent on. Two of our fundraisers & the BoxTop label money goes into the 018 pricipal fund. They don't even know what she spent the money on. They never asked to see her ledger so she can keep the parents informed as to what their money goes toward. I asked them what she does with that money & they told me "What she sees fit." Am I overreacting? I think the principal doesn't want a PTO & some PTO board members have secretly agreed with me. I intend to get some answers on Thursday. Does anyone have any kind of advice for me? Sorry so long, but I'm really worked up right now. Thank you~
