PTO Today

My question is; how do we work with this situation and find an amiable solution to the excessive pressure being exerted on the board?

Hi Tired -

The only real response here I think is getting educated and then acting as you see fit.

I'd say it's educated on two things:

1. Differences between PTO and PTA and what your group is looking to be/accomplish. See which is best fit for your school/parents/goals.

2. Educated on how the city/state --> local relationship really works and what you can and can't do and what they can and can't do.

On #2, those intimidating actions and threats only work -- typically -- because the presumption at the local level is that the muckety mucks must be right. That's often not true, and it's definitely not true in your case. Yuou had every right, for example, to tell the uninvited guests that bthey weren't on the agenda. Similarly, your board has every right to spend its funds as it sees fit (with no limits based on last year -- that's wholly fiction).

Education can be empowering.

Tim

Good luck with obtaining a 501c3 status. (necessary to have so you can transfer your money from the PTA to the PTO) Our group decided to switch to a PTO this year after the president made a pitch for disbanding. He led us to believe that obtaining a 501c3 designation was "no big deal" but it's been 9 months & we've yet to get the designation. Hopefully, you'll have an easier time with it than we had. Also, why did you decide to change?

This may sound silly, but do you have an attorney among your student body parents who might be willing to look over your charter, bylaws, and any agreements that you made with the local, state, or national PTA groups? Sometimes it's amazing how quickly a letter from an attorney (or even the phrase "at the advice of our attorney), will make someone change their tune. I would imagine that your state PTA would be no different on this matter.

You might also consider informing the jerks that are causing you guys so much trouble of your intent to go public with your plight to other schools in your district or in neighboring districts. I was at a local parent group council meeting (PTA and non-PTA groups) this week. When two schools expressed an interest in going PTA, they quickly re-considered when they were told that another local school has been trying to leave the organization for several years with nothing but problems. It could be that fear of a bad reputation (or even bad press if it comes to that) might be enough to make them back off.

HTH!

501 status isn't hard to gain. It just takes a bit of effort and research. After being told ours was so hard to get that it was taking over a year, I took on the process and had it done in 9 weeks.

d