PTO Today

Long story short, there are 2 vacant positions on our ballot at V.P. and Secretary. We have 2 candidates that have chosen to run for Treasurer. Both are able to do the job justly, but neither wants to do either of the other 2 positions, or they would have ran for those offices. The principal suggested I 'ask' one of the candidates to switch over to another office, basically ensuring the Treasurer position to the one candidate she wants to see as Treasurer (an office employee). I feel this is wrong in every way. I could care less as to who wins, but the removal of a candidate from the ballot is wrong. It basically makes the election moot. As President I feel that the voting members should decide who the Treasurer is, not the Principal. After the vote, should the losing candidate feel like stepping in to a vacant position, then that choice would be theirs.
What are your thoughts everybody? I stood fast in my decision to keep 2 candidates at Treasurer, and am feeling the ramifications from my decision. I won't get into that, but I was interested in hearing fellow PTOers thoughts.

I cannot believe your principal would do something like that, sounds a little fishy to me.

I think you did just the right thing.

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Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.

I agree... you stuck with your rules/by-laws and let the PTO officers be a decision made by the Parents and Teachers involved... not just one individual!

I agree with everyone else, but I also wonder if the Principal may know something about the other candidate for the position.

That's just it, she does NOT know anything about this candidate. I do though, as I made sure she was qualified and everything. I spoke with the principal today and she apologized for making me do it, but still did not regret the actual deed. She wanted 'everyone to be a winner'. That's nice and all, but if the parents caught wind of any of this, it would not have been pretty.

My answer depends on where you were in the process.

I don't see it as any big deal if you were still in the nominations process when things are shifting and you're deciding who to put on the ballot. We generally had an unchallenged slate each year. As things were shuffling around, if two people wanted the same office, we'd explore if one of them could be persuaded to take an open position instead. No coercion, simply asking so we could get as complete a slate of officers as possible. If two people had seriously wanted to compete for the same office that would be fine also.

So if it were at that stage when everything was firming up, I wouldn't have had a problem with the principal's request.

If there was undue pressure or if you are saying the principal wanted changes after the ballot had been finalized, then I agree you shouldn't give in.

The slate of officers was already finalized. I was in the process of running the ballot by the principal to get approval so that it may be sent to the print shop.

Your By-Laws should clearly define the nominations process. Unfortunately, the Principals think they should run the PTO organization. They are a very important factor in the process though they should be limited in their authority in the voting arena.