I've read this entire post 3xs and where in your by-laws and how would it be written that in no way the Principal of the school has the ablity to comment or edit what the PTO Secretary wrote in the minutes of the meeting. Isn't the PTO suppose to be able to work with the school to better our childrens' learning enviroment? And isn't this done much easier if one is able to say "And why do you want me to change this?"
What does this person WANT the PTO Secretary to print? Was this person 'burned' on a past mistake? That school you volunteer in is their ultimate responsiblity and I can see how one would like to know what one is sending home to ALL those parents that MIGHT read it.
The content of our PTA to be published in the school newsletter goes through the principal of our schools also. We do not include the minutes. As I posted before if you want to know what is in the minutes you may request a copy. I really think that is sufficient. We will mention things like "The expenditure to purchase 'something' was approved at our last meeting. It lets them know what we did. Just not in the form of minutes.
Well. I'm going to rock the boat here... Our principal can and does ask me to edit the minutes of our meeting that goes into the newsletter BUT I AM ABLE to read the unedited version at the meetings. Reason being I can have a full page typed but need to be able to put it into a paragraph space. The school disrtict has the policy that ANYTHING the school or parents groups send home with the students MUST meet the approval of the Principal OR school district office. How serious is this? A parent running for a spot on the School Council sent a campain letter home to parents without approval. The letter had 72 SPELLING mistakes, 50 grammer errors AND mispelled the school 3x's!!! No he didn't win and his supports didn't understand!
I don't mind the Principal looking over the Newsletter...They will ALWAYS be the first to hear the complaint and they are ultimately responsible to the school district.
I hope this helps.......
By-laws are the key and to follow them without exception. You need to take a stand on who's the boss here. PTO is supposed to be self-supporting sand self-governing. We ran into a jam with an administration that think they RULE. when you get a pres. that helps them do that, you will always have problems. they annot not differ with you if you follow by-laws from everything dues-voting.Ours are weak and it is not a good situation. Read my dilemma which I sent in on 6/14.
Our minutes are sent home with all students within a week after the meeting. The Principal does look them over and has final say on anything that is sent home, the principal is in charge of the school. I would think that if something was discussed at a meeting then everyone has a right to know. Our minutes are not read at the next meeting, it is just something we have never done. I would just follow up and see what it is that is not liked and see if the wording could be changed.
I am assuming your minutes of the last meeting are read at the next for corrections and approval of your assembly. We only make minutes available to those not at the meeting by request. We do also post them on our website. What exactly does this person feel about the minutes is not right?
