I am currently the VP of our PTO. I, along with the President, constantly feel frustrated with the school. I've decided to reach out to you guys to see if our frustrations are warranted.
For years, the PTO has been led by the same faculty member. We thought this year was going to be a turning point because parents were finally elected into PTO positions, along with being told the PTO was being steered away from faculty members having control. I feel we've been duped. To print pages at the school, each teacher has to enter a personal code into the printer. The PTO isn't provided a code, which means anything we want to print has to be discussed with the ex-President. Furthermore, the principal has told us any communication being placed in a teacher's box must go through the ex-President. The ex-President and another faculty member (no relation to the PTO) are the only two who can make purchases with PTO funds.
Furthermore, for the better part of two years, I have tried telling the school that two meetings a year is unacceptable and makes it impossible to make improvements. I also mentioned labeling a PTO performance as a PTO meeting is very confusing. The first "meeting" I showed up to was actually a 3rd grade performance. The actual PTO meetings are labeled "Business Meetings". This year, they finally decided to have a meeting every month. I was excited...until I heard this month's meeting is scheduled to take place at the same time as a performance. Literally, during the performance.
There's also the confusion on how compensation works. For instance, school was starting back and the teachers had to show up a couple days prior to make sure everything was ready for the students. The ex-President decided to provide food. At the first PTO meeting, she provided an itemized list of what she wanted reimbursed. It has left me utterly confused. If every event is to be voted on by the PTO, how can an event be set up without a discussion with all other PTO members? If it was because there wasn't a PTO set up for the current year yet, then shouldn't it have went through the last group of PTO members? Basically, is it normal to plan events without voting? Also, is it standard practice to have an event and then ask for reimbursement vs. discuss a budget, approve an event and then ask for reimbursement?
Lastly, I asked how much money the PTO currently has in their account. I was told around $14,000 but also told it wasn't all PTO money. The principal said it's money for several different things and it was lumped together because it accrues more interest. Nobody has been able to give me an actual PTO amount. How can a PTO vote on doing events or activities when you have no clue how much money is available?
I'm sorry for essentially writing a book, but I'm at a point where I don't know what to do. Looking for any advice or information!
Thank You,
Jessica
