The way I see it is if these teachers want to take on the role of co-President and THEIR BOSS is okay with their volunteering for this position...okay. Remember, this is their time they are willing to give to the good of their school. I do have a question about your membership guidelines, do they exclude teachers and staff? Then you have an issue.

I just have a problem with this (PTO) looking like the "Mom and Dad only club", you know as long as you are a parent but don't recieve a pay check from the school you can be a member and serve on the board. Do I finish the thought by calling this more of an exclusive volunteer org than a parent teacher organization??

We welcome working parents with open and excited arms and knowing the challenges that it comes with but if that paycheck comes from the school, sorry...we are going to have to ask you to quit.


Is'nt a volunteer a good person to have no matter where their paycheck comes from?

If you have no one else willing to keep your organization going, having staff members do it might be a temporary solution. There are some staff members I would trust to do this at my school and some I would not. In a way, I feel like I'm in a weird position too. My mother in law works at the school and I have made some very good friends in some of the teachers and other staff. I have to tell you, the reason I am so against staff in those positions is only because of the abuse of power that took place at our school and all the trouble parents had to go through to get control back. If I were not able to serve anymore, I would definately rather see someone else try to succeed than the group fall apart. If you want to know what these 2 have on their minds, just ask them what their plans are.

You guys are great. I just posted this question and already I got 2 very well thought out responses. Keep them coming.
I am going to forward all this dialog to our current president.

My first reaction is always knee jerk, that's just the kind of person I am.
From Merdunlap:
'Do you have by-laws covering presentation of ideas and how those ideas will be discussed?' No we don't have those kinds of by-laws, not in that specific detail.
'Do you require motions to be made and a majority approval vote of the general membership?'Yes we have them but most of the membership is very weak in Roberts Rules procedures. I am usually the one keeping the meeting on track.
'Do you have other board members who are "strong" enough to stand up against someone who is trying to take control and force an issue?' Our current president is trying her best to convince me that I should be that person. I just don't know if I want to take on the role of gatekeeper.

One of my favorite speechs is 'You can only affect change from within, so quit complaining and do something'. Our president is having a field day throwing those words back at me....

My situation is slightly different, but maybe it will help.
Last year, I was a stay-at-home mom/substitute teacher, and served as secretary of our PTO. One evening in May, I was elected President. The next day, our principal hired me to work full-time in a para-professional position. One active PTO mom told me that it was a shame that I'd have to give up the presidency since I now worked at the school--it might look like a conflict of interest. I'll admit, this got my back up, and I told her that I had not seen any rule that said a school employee could not also hold a board position. Any PTO member in good standing could run for office. Nothing more was ever said, at least not to my face!
From the start, I was very conscious of the potential for an appearance of conflict of interest. I decided that if any business came up that directly involved the areas I worked in, I would not be the one to bring it up, and I would not vote on it. Things have worked out fine.
When discussion of things like staff appreciation come up, I just stick my fingers in my ears and go,"La-la-la-la-la-la-I cant' hear you!" They just work around me in those cases. Usually, I'll participate from both sides: as a PTO volunteer, I'll sign up to bring a dish for the Staff Birthday Brunch, and then as a staff member, I'll go eat the goodies that have been brought to us.
I know that your situation is different in that you don't know where these previously uninvolved teachers are coming from. But please, don't give up your committees and involvement. I have a feeling they'll need your knowledge and experience to run things successfully, and you'll probably have more influence that you think.

Since you have no proof of a "negative" agenda, let's look at it as these two people think this is a valuable organization and they want to help lead it. They saw that no one else had stepped forward and are offering their services.

It's common to worry about the agenda of the person(s) who come forward to lead a group, but if your by-laws are written correctly(not really the word I'm looking for) then you should be covered to protect your group from one or two people being able to totally control how the group operates. Do you have by-laws covering presentation of ideas and how those ideas will be discussed? Do you require motions to be made and a majority approval vote of the general membership? Outside of the by-laws, do you have other board members who are "strong" enough to stand up against someone who is trying to take control and force an issue?

Try to look at this in a positive manner. We have teachers who serve on our executive board and they are wonderful. We're so pleased to have some truly involved "T"s in our PTO. They are great resources for the needs of the school. This could turn into a really great thing for your group and your school.

Our PTO is looking for new board members and we have received a ballot from 2 teachers who want to serve as co-Presidents. No one else has stepped up to the plate.
Neither of them are parents of current students and one does not live in town. The other has a child in the school district but not in our school.
We just got finished applying for 501(3)C status and doing our by-laws but we did not include anything in them to preclude teachers from board position eligibility. These teachers, both very nice, have never been active in our PTO before.
Their motives are unknown.

So, my friends in cyberspace, what do we do?
I have already told our current president that I will not continue as a active PTO member, chair my committees etc. since I think that the new presidents will have an obvious conflict of interest.

If you agree or think I am wrong?
I need to know.