PTO Today

hey everyone I have a problem I need advice on..
what do you all think about teachers being in the top 3 board positions????
It was announced last night that there are teachers wanting those positions.
Our President is moving and our Vice President wanted and is capable of moving up into that position.. just need to know what is right and wrong..
our bylaws are not clear on what teachers can do..
thanks in advance,

check with your school administration. Ours will not let anyone from an "administrative" position be on the board. We do have a teacher rep that attends the monthly meetings and then reports back to the rest of the staff.

It can work for the good or the bad depending on the people involved. I have had a very good experience with teachers as co-vice presidents. I would say if nothing else a standard election process could help determine who is in what position... or perhaps co-chairs?

I'm unclear on whether you want to exclude teachers from the top 3 board positions (allowing them to be in the remaining), or whether you mean that teachers want to have all 3 of the top board positions.

Our by-laws, like Dixie's, say board members have to have a student at the school (so a teacher who has a child at the school could be on the board). In other threads, I've heard that a teacher on the board can be a good thing.

But teachers in all 3 top board slots sounds like too much. I'd be sure you got lots of parents coming to the election meeting; don't alienate the teachers by trying to prevent them from running, but be sure you have good parent representation.

My opinion would be that due to your current Bylaws not indicating anything regarding this that you must hold a fair election. What I would do, based on your knowledge that the teachers have plans to run, is to ensure that you follow your Bylaws and to provide a notice of the elections, but to ensure that you have enough support at the election to vote the V.P. in as President. You may even want to see if you have other active members interested in the other positions.

Personally I believe that as long as there is at least an even amount or a majority of parents in the top spots, and possibly more importantly that the President is not a staff member (barring the idea that the staff member has a child at the school) then you should be fine.

Once you get through these elections you may want to revise your Bylaws to include these specifications.

At the same time you need to be very, VERY careful not to alienate the staff. You want them to be involved and you want them to have a say. But for an organization, such as a PTO, that supports a facility such as a school to have someone or someones in charge that reports to the boss of that facility (in this case the Principal) is just asking for issues. In addition, putting staff members in the top positions can very possibly cause parents to not want to get involved as it will become a teachers clique.

One thing that you might be able to do is talk with these teachers and see if they are interested in other positions. Fundraising coordinator, Back to School event chair, Hospitality chair, etc.. There are many viable places for them to become involved in.

Good luck,
PresidentJim