Thanks for the replies. It seems that perhaps a small committee, while allowing for nominations from the floor, would be a good solution. I will forward your replies to our bylaws writing committee --of which I am not a member because I tend to get in very heated debates with one of the members who happens to be my DH ;p)

Thanks so much. I think I will be working on this for the bylaws too.

Cindy

Hi Cindy. Here's what my nominations committee does.

1. Sends a letter home to parents requesting interested candidates and gives their contact information. If anyone responds they verbally confirm it.

2. Posts an announcement in the school's newsletter and on the main bulletin board with the same info and the letter.

3. If nobody responds to letters/announcements, they start calling, stopping folks in the hallway, begging, pleading, bribing, uh no, wait, cancel that last thing...

4. Confirms that all interested parties are eligible per our bylaws. It's great if there's more than one candidate per position but were usually lucky if we get one for each spot.

5. Presents the slate of candidates to the PTO Board, posts it on the main bulletin board and in the newsletter 30 days prior to the election.

My take on a nominations committee is that it gives interested parties a 3rd party to go to to talk about the position without having to come to the board, which can be nervewracking for some. As no current officers or interested candidates can be on the committee, it goes a long way toward insuring that it's an impartial (ie non-clique) group seeking candidates. I don't think they have a lot of power and control as they have to be open to all parties and accept and present all interested candidates. They don't really actually nominate anyone. People just nominate themselves but through the committee.

???? We do not have a nominating committee. We just send out a letter in March asking for interested parties for positions to reply and then we have our vote in May at our meeting.
This year most of the officers are moving up to the next school. We are an elementary and you need to have a student in the school where your an officer. We are redoing our bylaws also this year.
I am wondering if we should change to having nominations rather than volunteering yourself. What are the pros and cons of doing it this wa? I would think many people who are nominated would just end up bowing out because of time commitments. But on the otherhand it might get a person interested who might not normally consider being an officer.

What are your thoughts on this???


Cindy

Ours has a nominating committee that comes up (or railroads ) members for the board positions that need to be filled according to bylaws (7 positions) but parents can 'nominate candidates or themselves' at the Mar??? election (we just changed the month) mtg also- not sure if person has to be there ( I think they do in order to accept nomination)- not sure if we send a flyer out asking for nominations (ie a write in candidacy flyer)

I agree with CC- just because a person cant make that mtg doesnt bode either way on their commitment- they may have sick family or work and cant be there.. Life happens.

Our group accepts nominations from the floor only -- at the March general meeting. Elections are at the April general meeting. This way, notice can be given regarding candidates.

A member does not need to be present to be nominated or elected, but they must 1) be a registered member, and 2) agree to serve if elected. If someone is nominated, not present, and has not expressed in writing that they want to serve, I'd accept the nomination 'pending s/he agrees to serve if elected' and we'd try and get that before the election.

We did not want to require a nomination committee simply because we didn't think anyone would want to be on it. We also thought that could get personal if the wrong people found themselves on the committee.