PTO Today

My group is facing a unique situation and I would like to get some input from everyone here.

We have an officer that has been a very involved parent in both her kids classes and, this year, she been doing a LOT of substitute teaching at all levels. I'm concerned about the potential issues that it may cause and wanted to ask you all about the pros and cons you see of this situation. Should we allow her to have be heavily involved with the administration or should we ask her to limit involvement with either the club or administration?

Any input received would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mixed feelings

I don't really think it is your place to set limits on her personal or professional contributions to either place. Most of us would kill for a dedicated parent like that and to try to say that you have some sort of ability to limit her contributions to either is a bit overboard in my opinion.

You are a volunteer organization and now you have a great volunteer who is also going to be working at the school. I've actually threatened to keep my great volunteers out of the school because the school keeps hiring them. I've come to see them as a great asset to help spread the word and none of them have had any conflicts with either position so far.

If there are some issues that you might find touchy (like which projects you fund and which you don't) then if you don't think she can balance that I might speak to her about those particular aspects and ask for her confidentiality (as she would yours as a volunteer who is helping a teacher with her students) but I wouldn't presume to have any other type of authority in the matter.

d

I don't see a conflict of interest here at all. I agree with dlf that a highly involved parent is an asset to the team. As a PTO, you probably encourage parents and teachers alike to be involved.

Perhaps there is conflicting or limiting clauses in your bylaws about officer eligibility. Even at my last school, which limited officer candidates to "parents of enrolled students", allowed for staff members to run if they had an enrolled child.


It doesn't really seem, based on the info provided, that you have a problem. Is there more to the issue than concerns you?

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“Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same.”

i dont think your situation is unique at all. every parent group i have ever known has had involved parents/volunteers/and or officers, also be part or fulltime staff of school.

the ONLY way i could see an issue, is if your bylaws stipulate staff cannot hold board or committee, or volunteer positions (the latter would be absurd, in my view) in your parent group.

after all, ptos are PARENT TEACHER orgs, whats wrong with a member being both a parent AND a teacher? i dont see your concern. maybe there is more. there usually is.

I don't see a conflict. Although she is subbing in your school, she is first a parent to the students. She is not holding an executive board position as a teacher so there is no conflict unless your bylaws state the contrary.

Try and look at the positive: As a sub, she can find out what the teachers are saying--what they like and dislike about what's going on in the school, what they need, what they wish they had in the school. She can be your eyes and ears to get ideas of how the PTO can best help the teachers and students of the school.

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Doing it for my one and only ~~ my son!

I think you are smart to be exploring this. Not so much that you should restrict activities, but more so that you are attempting to head off any problems and set boundaries. Not only do you want to protect the PTO; you want to protect your volunteer by not inadvertently placing her in an uncomfortable situation further down the line. As a volunteer, she answers to the PTO. But as a teacher, she answers to the Principal. There are some roles that might pose conflicts.

Our bylaws do not allow an [U]elected officer[/U] to be an employee of the campus or a management level employee of the district. (I'm not concerned with the legality of employee versus contractor. If you go with the intent, a frequent sub would fit the same category.)

But that still leaves lots of room for involvement - and possible room for problems. I would consult the principal for input. Ours had specific PTO jobs they didn't want teachers to do even when they were also parents.

Watch for [U]potential[/U] job conflicts. There may be a school policy that an employee not handle funds (be treasurer) for a parent organization. In a particular role, say school store coordinator, a parent might often be on campus during the day as a volunteer. If that parent is also an employee or a sub - is her coordinator role convenient because she is on campus anyway or is it a disruption to the job she is being paid to do? (It could be either.)

Another concern is dealings with the principal. We got along great with ours. But from time to time, we didn't see eye to eye or he reluctantly went along with something the group wanted but he didn't personally support. There was a time or two when his attiitude or decision was WRONG. (Aside from being wonderful, he was also human and therefore not perfect.) As a parent, I could challenge him. But if he were my BOSS?? Some activities are more likely to be stressful like that. You don't want to put a teacher in that position.

Good luck with this. I'm sure it will work out fine, but it's good that you are considering all the angles.

One point that I would agree that could be considered a colflict is teacher appreciation. More than likely this parent/staff member would not cause an issue, but I have heard of staff members being the President or a chair of the Teacher Appreciation committee and it causing problems.

Other than that, I don't see how it is your concern. As long as she never causes issues, such as rumors or negative connotations, then no big deal.

Good luck.
PresidentJim

Well JHB and President JIM, you were right. This situation has turned into a huge conflict of interest. The principal uses the employer/employee relationship to influence club decisions and it has turned into a disaster. Our student store has been closed and every little detail gets reported to the principal.

Let this be a warning to anyone and everyone. Don't let school employees become officers in your club, even if they are simply occasional substitutes. Our club is in serious trouble.

Caryn--I'm sorry this hasn't worked out for you but I have to offer that our PTO has had full and part time employees on our board since it's inception and there has never been a issue of the sort you are relaying. I'm not sure what the difference in the dynamic was/is for us but we found our full time employees to be an addition to our group vice a problem.

I hope you are able to sort through your groups issues and wish you luck...
d

Caryn - I too am sorry this was a problem for you. But re-reading my past advice, it may have seemed more heavily slanted towards "don't do this" than I had intended.

We also have had staff successfully be active volunteers. But I'm well aware that a situation that works fine one time can fall apart another time or with different people.

My intent was just to say it was wise to explore possible conflicts and steer clear of those. But I didn't mean to imply you should avoid having staff volunteers.