Question: Help! PTO president from you know where!

First of all, I am a VP. It is my first time ever being on a board or apart of a PTO. Our president is a president from ______. No one can stand to work with her. She treats us like we are children. She has even yelled at us in the school parking lot. We have been a board for an entire month. She will not let us see the bylaws. She said we weren't using them because of principal is making new ones. Well, she is spending money without voting or allowing her board to be notified. She cancels meetings 5 minutes before they are to start or 10 minutes after. She never does anything on time, everything is last minute. I am sure our first meeting made us the laughing stock of the town. We have a PTO binder that NO one can see. Except her. She is wanting to use the PTO funds to buy "incentive gifts' for being on he board. She can never be wrong and will make us look stupid before admitting her mistakes. As she wanted to purchase the incentive gifts as a secret and I informed her I would not be apart of that. But then she has a double personality for when she is working with the principal. The list goes on and on. I am hoping to get a copy of the bylaws tomorrow from an previous member. The entire board is ready to resign. Our committee chairs who don't even have to work with her - cant stand her and are no longer wanting to participate. Help..what should we do? Do we ask for her resignation or do we just blindside her and call for a vote? I could type all day...but the thing is, I have been keeping notes and have recommended all board members to do. I personally have 2 1/2 pages of complaints and things she has done or didn't do. (( We have given her several chances even after our parking lot showdown of her yelling at us and the previous board members))

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Community Advice

mum24kids writes:
See what your bylaws say, but regardless, surprising her with a recall vote or something probably isn't the best course of action. Find a couple of people who are willing to sit down and talk to her and lay out the situation. It's possible she's oblivious. And if she has a good relationship with the principal, you don't want to blindside the principal with a vote, either. The biggest red flag in your post is the part about her having a double personality when working with the principal; that implies that she and the principal get along well. So, throwing out the president may not bode well for your future working relationship with the principal. With whatever you decide to do, you should probably get an appointment with the principal to get her take on what is going on.

How is it that she can spend money without anyone else approving it? She shouldn't have sole access to the bank account. If any one person has access like that, you should take steps to improve your financial controls.

As for meetings, if she calls a meeting, and tries to cancel it with that short of a notice, if you have a quorum, have it without her. I don't understand how she cancels it 10 minutes after it's supposed to start, unless people are late and there is no quorum for her to have the meeting.

Community Advice

LOVE2bPTO writes:
What if the President isn't friendly with the principal and the principal is new and doesn't fully understand PTA/PTO protocol? A president who doesn't share everything with their board is not a good president and makes decisions without consulting anyone or notifying them until after things are finished. Also, micro managing everyone to do exactly as she dictates?