PTO Today

Our PTO has volunteers who coordinate and run events, fundraisers, book fairs etc. My question is, if a coordinator wants to make a change in hours a function is run, or eliminate a long time tradition at a fall fair, do they bring it to the members and have the members vote on these changes, or can they make the decision on their own?

Thank you for your help!

I don't think that changes need to be voted on by the members but should certainly be discussed by the administration, event committee and the executive board. Input is always valuable and no event chair should be making major changes without it. That being said, change is not inherently bad. Traditions may need to be reevaluated to see if they work for the current school community and be adjusted accordingly.

Sometimes a group's Bylaws may indicate what the responsibilities of an event chair are. If not then I would say that usually event chairs that are running a committee should be having committee meetings. Something of this nature should be discussed at these committee meetings and a decision by that committee would be needed. From there this change should be informed via committee meeting minutes, which the PTO President should be Cc'd, even if not on the committee. Next it would be something that should be brought up at the regular PTO meetings. If someone has an issue with the change that would be the proper time to discuss it. If your group does not meet regularly then I would recommend that the entire active committee be included on the event committee minutes.

Hope this helps,
PresidentJim

Our committee's send a rep to the board meeting to keep the board informed.

Last year the person who volunteered for movie night thought it was ok to decide that hauling the popcorn machine from the middle school and popping 300+ bags of popcorn was too much work and she was going to buy chips instead.

We vetoed that idea quickly.

That incident made it clear that we needed to communicate better with our committee chairs. This year we made a form that says "Movie night" and has all the responsibilities of the chair and her committee. Things that they get to decide are in one section, date, movie, secondary snack. Items that aren't set in stone in another; get popcorn machine and pop popcorn, get movie license, fill out building use forms, etc.

We're making the forms out as people volunteer for positions. This way there is no miscommunication. They know what's expected when they accept the post.

We do meet montly. We have only have one or two coordinators, not a commite. The coordinators do come to the meetings during their planning time to report how things are going. Where they are in the planning stages. This new coordinator decided to change a lot of what has gone on in the past. Never running it by the members. There were a few parents who we not happy. The coordinator is very abrupt and thoe few parents who didn't like the changes, didn't feel comfortable or actually afraid to voice their opnion. I just felt that these changes should have been disscused before she TOLD the members this was the way it is!

I totally agree with you...

With an event where there is a chair, but no committee, the chair can come up with ideas, but should present them to the committee before a final decision is made. What should have happened, IMO, is that she should have brought up the change and explained why she felt it was needed, then the President should have prompted the rest of the committee as to if there are any adverse ideas regarding the change. If not, then I guess it would be accepted and the chair would go on. But the monthly meeting seems the appropriate time to have discussed any possible changes.

PresidentJim

Thank you for your help!!

My pleasure...

PresidentJim