A lot of these are the kind of questions you need to ask as part of the question "what kind of group do we want/need to be?" Think seriously about how you would answer those questions if it were all up to you to decide. Then you have a vision to sell.
Should you have dues? Personally, I would, but make them very reasonable. People commit to something that costs money more than they do to something free. I've seen it with group outings to baseball games: with free tickets 2/3 of the people don't actually show up; with $1 tickets almost everybody does.
By-laws? You betcha! That is where you set down things like what officers you will have and what they will do and who can hold them.
Power of the principal? Try to avoid the horror stories on here of principals who run the PTO. You should be an independent organization. The principal already has the power of needing to approve any use of the facilities.
Bonding? PTOtoday had an article about insurance that mentioned two companies writing policies specifically for PTOs/PTAs. Contact them, they can give you a quote for the service and explain the advantages. You will possibly need the liability insurance to use the facilities anyway.
Explain your vision so others can buy into it. Then find out who has a passion for the organizing issues and hook them up with the work that needs to be done. Get the fundraisers started on deciding what to do while the rules geeks are writing the by-laws. You'll probably have some enthusiastic people show up at that meeting -- try to connect them with a job that needs doing before they leave.
We starting a PTO. Can someone please send me the first steps in becoming a PTO. Such as membership dues, by-laws, communication between PTO and the principal-like how much power does he have if any...etc.
One main question I have is regarding... our treasurer. Someone mentioned to me a treasurer could be bonded for precautionary reasons. Does anyone know anything about this? We will have our first meeting with the parents in a couple of days...would this be a good time to introduce them to the PTO mission/vision and discuss ... membership dues and fundraising ideas they may have?
Thanks for all responses.
Shon
