Some of the people that posted in the past have mentioned a "Code of conduct". If your organization has one, i'd think it's always a good idea to let new people know about it. If not, maybe you'd want to think about having one ready to be adopted. Sometimes people need to be taught to watch loose lips. (even more for officers)

If you decide to prepare one to pass out, the style of delivery might be very critical.

I would say not. The only issue that I see with the situation thus far is that the new Treasurer took it upon herself to contact the other interested party to make sure there were "no hard feelings". As a President I wouldn't like that someone did that, but I have to wonder how she got the phone number for this person. Does she know her. If so that might change things a bit.

Anyway, for now I would say hold off on reacting. One things you could do is hold an Executive Committee meeting sometime before the end of the school year, or even over the summer. At that meeting you can ask each what they like about the things that you guys are doing, places where they think your group can make improvements, etc. This will also give you the opportunity as President to explain certain expectations. This would be where to bring up the issues you mention, but by keeping them general, and not putting this new Treasurer into a defensive posture, you can lay your foundation while keeping the peace.

Good luck,
PresidentJim

I am the President of our Home and School Association at a Catholic school. Last year, due to several factors, the Archidiosese made a decision to close 3 local Catholic schools. Our school was not one of them, but as a result, we did obtain several new students and their families. Our whole school, including the current families, staff and principal worked very hard to welcome these families, and to make this transitition for everyone as comfortable as possible.

The school that was closed had just under 100 students, our school typically has just over 300 students.

To begin getting ready for the 2008-2009 school year we had our Home & School General Meeting in which open positions are announced. A letter had gone home to parents about 1 month prior, listing the open positions for next year, and my name and phone number to call in case you wanted more info. Only 1 person contacted me about a position - the treasurer position.

At the meeting, this person was not able to attend as she was taking one her final exams that evening as she is finishing up her degree in accounting. At our meeting, a new parent from the closed school was nominated for the treasurer position. Since our by-laws didn't address whether the vote had to be taken that evening, or during a paper ballot, our principe made the decision to vote that night. The new parent won and this is where the problems start.

This Mom has a reputation for stirring the pot - causing problems and does a lot of "he said, oh she said" type thing. She went as far as the night of the meeting to immediately call the other candidate interested in the treasurer's job to tell her that she was voted in, not her, and she hopes there aren't hard feelings The nxt day this person saw this new Mom in a off-school setting and the new Mom proceeded to tell her that I had not mentioned once that this person had volunteered already, that she felt I as the President should have stood up and said the position was already filled ..... etc etc.

This is the third time she has done something like this in the past month. I don't want to spend time putting out fires at our meetings next year - but I do think it's important that this Mom understand that this is NOT the type of Home & School board we run and that there is no room for these he said/she said issues.

I did have a Mom, who came from the school that closed, come up to me and say that I should continue to stick to my guns b/c she did this same time of thing all the time last year at the closed school.

Any suggestions? Should I have a sit down w/her prior to our next meeting so that it can be discussed in private?