I don't know if this will help, but we have our board meetings off school property. We do tell our principal about them incase there is something she'd like us to consider. Then we have a Board meeting with our principal to share our topics with her, and for her to share her stuff with us. This makes for a very efficient use of time for all. If necessary, we have another board meeting off school property. All of this takes place prior to and in preparation for our PTO meeting. It sounds like a lot when I write it down, but really, it is a time saver and our principal appreciates it.
The last part about the playground, yeah, she has already started digging her own hole!! Now if the city is smart they will report her behavor (or lack of) to her boss.....Cross your fingers, she may be ending her own career right before your eyes.
Do invite the Super. to your March "meeting" and start documenting EVERYTHING!!! I hope you have a strong Sec.! Does the Super know about the $17,000? That is ALOT of money to just blow!
Please hang in there!!! like I said, your principal is already in alot of trouble, you need to keep your group strong so she doesn't try to take you wiht her!
I have a strong feeling that the VPrincipal would go along. I was actually talking to some parents today about the money issues (last year's PTO gave into the principal and
"gave" her the magazine drive money)she has NO accountability as far as anyone can see for this money. Originally this was used for field trips, class projects, etc. by the PTO. The PTO was told that she may need to start charging parents for field trips because we aren't giving her enough money and she doesn't have any!!!! Where did the $17,000 go???? Sorry I'm venting. Anyway, some of the parents have decided to make going to the next PTO meeting a priority for the question section of the meeting so that they can ask her themselves. By the way, we do let her know and have rescheduled all meetings to accomodate her schedule, unfortunately due to school events the March meeting (which isn't allowed to be a meeting!?!) can not be rescheduled with out cancelling the whole thing and with all of the spring events coming it isn't feesible. My only "light" is that a parent/volunteer on the playground committee recently complained to the school superitendant because the principal was giving her a hard time. The new playground is going to be a community playground, the city is helping with it, and she cancelled the PGC's meeting with city hall because "they were going behind her back" - they didn't invite her because they knew she was lying and hiding information and they wanted to get the proper information.
Sorry about the book
I hate to do this or even suggest this but you need to see if a petion can be started (check with the school district for the guidelines--VERY IMPORTANT to do it right) to have her removed. Okay before that, a meeting with the school board to air these issues and the ones shared by other parents is first. Here, while you are calling the school district about the petiton (I failed spelling!) ask about the compalint procedure the district may have in place. Ours is in the handbook we get every year from the district and another we recieve from school.
~find out complaint procedures
~schedual meeting or request time to air issues with the school board
~decide as a group (not the PTO!!) how much farther you want to go with this.
~Follow the complaint procedures as much as you can.
Part of the procedure may be speaking with the Principal, if that is the case DO NOT attack him or ambush him with the issues. Try to let him know many parents have a lot of issues etc. I really want to stress here if possible DO NOT go in as the President of the PTO but as a parent. Have a few others with you and your Asst. Prin.
I watched my parents go through this before with a principal that wanted to do away with the farm classes and bring in more computer programing classes...I grew up in Iowa, wasn't a popular idea. Happy ending, the parents (no PTO/PTA!) got together and raised the money to keep both and the Principal looked really 'dumb' to the school board since he didn't think to do that in the first place. He did retire last year after 15 years-- my Mom was there to make sure he was leaving and I've been out of school for 14 years!!
Hang in there, and I hope I was making sense. Do call the school disrtict office and find out how to properly do what you may need to do and you may want to tell the Asst. (is he someone you can trust and will he support you?)
This is going to be one of the hardest (and crappyest) things you will ever do and you can always come here to vent!!
I understand that the children are her responsibility but the main problem is that she is disliked by most of the adults. The vice-principal is even considering a request to transfer because of his dislike for her. She has been caught lying, misleading, and even trying to spend PTO money inappropriately (going out to dinner, submitting reciepts for office printer cartridges). The PTO "gave" her one of our major funding projects so that she would have money that she could use for her "things" and yet she is still asking for us to pay for the things she has the money for (field trips, class projects). I would rather quit the PTO (and I know this is the feelings of the majority of parents) than to work with her on the board. Isn't there something that says we can run the board with out her presence? I could understand if this was a "protection" issue but she allows so many other things go on at the school (Girl Scouts, parents use of gym) without her presence and in addition no children are present during these meetings. :confused:
One of the good news/bad news parts of helping the school is that there are so many areas of need, so many great ideas, you could never do them all. That being said, can you identify some of the principal's high priority items that the PTO also agrees are important and focus on them? Maybe working successfully on some joint ideas would pave the way for a more amiable relationship.
As far as the meetings, sounds like you are going to have to wean her of the power position. Yes, she's important and her participation and support are key. But, no, she shouldn't control things. Can you set a schedule of meetings for the rest of the year with 2 or 3 choices for each, giving her a chance to verify her calendar is free. Then, set them all. For next year, you can agree on a standard date/time (barring major conflicts like a school program) that everyone accepts.
We think it's important to have the Principal as a voting member of the Board (per our bylaws, Principal, VP, 2 teacher reps are board members). We wouldn't cancel a meeting if the principal weren't available, but he considers them very important. The rare times he has had to miss, he made sure the VP was there (and she usually is anyway.)
One more thing, be very sure negative feelings and frustrations don't show publicly (even at Board meetings). You definitely need to "take the high road", no matter how she acts.
Good luck!
P.S. One more thing - you could still have committee meetings and project meetings at a different time (or offsite) to get the ideas polished and details taken care of. Then, you could streamline what has to be covered at the meeting with the principal.
