[MsLee]

Hi everyone. Please excuse my "ignorance" but, I am new to holding a "position" in the PTO. I have a very general question. Is there an "age" guideline for a person to become a member? I feel as though if you are not able to legally vote you may not become a member in the PTO; as you cannot vote for issues, you cannot be a chaperone for events.... Can someone enlighten me. We are having a discrepency at my school.

Thank You - I appreciate it immensely
MsLee

[rlaneew]

Well that would depend. Some middle schools have a PTSO, which would be Parent, Teacher, STUDENT organization. So in that case there is going to be a student representive on the board. Are you talking about someone that is a non student? Then I guess it would depend on what relation they are to the students. Are they a parent? Then regardless of their age then they have a right to join their childs PTO and help in the school. So there are alot of if's in the answer. Someone under 18 years old could do many things other than chaperone events and actually there are many board or panels that have under 18 year old members, it just depends on the type of board so even though they can't legally vote on issues outside of their board, I'm sure it wouldn't be wrong for them to vote on issues dealing with a board or panel. Of course I have no idea what the legal end of that is, that is just my personal opinion.

Robin
Robin

[JHB]

The ones to which I've belonged are for parents and/or guardians of current students plus teachers/staff. Those roles tend limit the "age" to adults.

[PresidentJim]

IMO, it should come down to your group's Bylaws. Most include a clause as to who is elligible to be a member of the Parent Teacher Organization.

For example, my group's Bylaws indicate "Any parent or guardian of any child attending the school, as well as every member of the professional staff, are automatically members of the Parent Teacher Organization and are encouranged to get involved".

So, if this < 18 year old met this requirement then they would be a member and would be able to be involved. If they did not, for example (as I am guessing is the case), is a sibling or other relative, and not a parent or guardian, then I would say that they are more than welcome to help out at events where the actual parent or guardian is helping out, but not to be an official member. If that makes sense?

Good luck,
PresidentJim

[MsLee]

I thank you all for the response. This person is actually a 14 yr old child of the past president (her term was up this year) and unfortunatelly, her child went back to a teacher of ours in the high school and made a very rude comment to her regarding a committee. Personally, I feel a "member" should be at least 18 yrs of age. Especially when issues like this happen.

[Ellen]

We are made up of parents/guardians as well as the teachers. I think the youngest is approx. 24? Most are 30ish.

[rlaneew]

Well it sounds like regardless of her age she isn't handling herself appropriately. Are you a elem or a middle school PTO? Is this girl a board memeber with a title or is she someone who just thinks she has the right to make decisions and comment?

[FoxMom]

I think I would have the principal get involved-- this student can not act like that whether they are acting alone or through the PTO-- no matter-- this is not appropriate behavior and should be addressed.

[dlf]

You know maybe I'm coming from a different place on this one, but really, a 14 year old making a comment is not something you can "legislate" against. She's a kid, sounds like a bit of a rude kid but so what. Let it drop and move on. Dragging this into the "legal membership" process is a bit of an overreaction in my opinion and just adds fuel to the fire. Sounds like what happened if I'm interpreting this properly is you accepted the 14 year old's help as a perhaps chaperone for an event and then you didn't care for the way she acted. I wouldn't want her around my children either, but there are a lot of children like that around and I can't change that. I would just let it go and reconsider allowing children to assist in these sorts of things...or perhaps give them a behavior briefing before they help out and let them know if they cannot follow the rules they will not be allowed to assist in the future. But I wouldn't go overboard with the attention I'd give this young lady. She blew it, she's a kid. We have older children help all the time and for the most part they do a good job--but some of them will mess up....

d

[LUVMYKIDS]

I'm with d on this one. It's not an issue worth taking to extremes. If this young lady spoke rudely to a teacher then it is the principal's place to handle the issue, if she is speaking badly about the parent group, then the parent group's board should address the issue. Believe me there are plenty of ADULTS out there who speak rudely to teachers and badmouth their school's parent groups, so putting age limits on membership isn't going to guarantee a problem free environment. Maybe there needs to be a bylaw requiring a rudeness test(Oprah gave one yesterday)and if you don't pass it, no membership!!

I've been using students this year for spirit wear sales and while they may not be perfect, they are a godsend to a chairperson who can't find enough parent volunteers to help. I try to look at it as I'm training them for the future-work experience, how to deal with the public, improving math skills, figuring out they don't want to sell t-shirts for a living.....