I guess I need a bit more info before I can offer any more advice. You mention bylaws so you do have them. That's good.
1. Are there any election clauses at all?
2. If not, how were the current president and treasurer put into place?
3. You say you proposed an election to the principal. Do you mean to immediately replace the current officers? Without a bylaws clause, how do you propose to remove them to make room for new ones?
4. What is the principal's official stance on all of this?
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."
"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the true perfection of one's character."
Thank you for all your help. Today I found out the the president and the new treasurer got rid of one of the members of the board because he was breaking the by-laws. I do not know how that is, when the president and the treasurer them self are breaking them. We need help with our PTO. Right now there are only four parents on the PTO because no one can get along with the president and new treasurer. I went to the Principal and told him that we need to have an election to get all new members of the board. How do we go about doing that. How is it done? We have never had an election.
pals and LUV are always very polite and offer good advice. It's all too easy for some parents to sit around and find fault. Those parents can be hard to deal with but offering them the chance to take over and help fix things either shuts them up or helps recruit some capable volunteers!
You say the president ran off the treasurer. How did that happen? Is she difficult to work with? Is she a bully? The treasurer is an elected officer. If she couldn't stand up to the president and demand respect for her position then maybe she wasn't right for an officer position. The treasurer is the financial gate keeper and has to have a pretty solid backbone.
Other than the bylaws violation, is the secretary doing a bad job acting as treasurer as well? If nobody else wants the job and she's managing it successfully then I probably wouldn't grumble too loudly. However, if she's just the President's lackey and you suspect wrongdoings then by all means investigate it. They should be submitting meeting minutes and treasurer's reports on a regular basis. Information should be consistent, available to the members and able to stand up to an annual audit.
Ideally, bylaws should be honored. Two people should not be doing the work of four. The reason for four separate roles is so that the checks and balances work.
If the bottom line is just that the president is a huge pain in the neck and nobody wants to work with her then rally some viable candidates to run against her in the next election and take back control of your PTO.
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."
"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the true perfection of one's character."
The thought was fresh in my mind after a particularly hectic couple of days last week. Glad I was able to "say it nicely", 'cause last week I wasn't feeling particularly nice.
Ooo, there's another tip-keep it polite even when people are whining.
I agree with Pals, politely offer up at the next meeting the suggestion that a call go out to fill the empty positions. Then maybe you can go back and find that parent who complained and get her/him to take one of those empty spots and make a difference instead of just pointing out what he/she thinks is wrong with the group.
