Connie,

Just read your last post. You're right that the bylaws give the board pretty much all of the power to conduct PTO business. I think that's OK, but consider having at least one general meeting in the middle of the year, say in late January. Make it an event -- have the school chorus sing, post student art in the hallways, etc. Get a lot of parents out, and use the occasion to promote the good works of the PTO and to get more people interested in participating. That will also give you an opportunity to build support for your winter and spring activities and make sure people feel you are going in the right direction.

Hi Connie,

Good points by Daddio. Back-to-school is a key time to build support and momentum for your group. It really helps to get started now. You'll be surprised at how fast things move in the fall.

I think it's OK to have just one or two general meetings a semester, especially if you don't have a lot of involvement. Let's fact it, most people don't like meetings, and you have a lot more important things you would like them to do anyway. (Like helping out at your events) If you go in this direction, I'd recommend making your board meetings open to the public. Put the times on the school calendar and hold them at the school, not at someone's house. And let people have their say if they do attend. But only the board members vote.

I don't think you need to have every expenditure approved by the general membership. That's just not really practical, even if you have meetings every month. Daddio recommends a good way to go -- have the membership approve a budget at the beginning of the year. Then you can make individual expenditures in line with that budget.

Good luck!

Craig

Thanks for the responses. Our last day of school was on the 20th. We start the 2nd Monday of August.

I have read our by-laws several times. It only mentions 2 meetings per year, one at the beginning and one at the end, and of course special meetings can be called when necessary.

The only part in the by-laws I see about money or budgets are these:

• Under Executive Board: Duties. The duties of the Executive Board shall be to transact business, create standing rules and policies, create standing and temporary committees, prepare and submit a budget to the membership, approve expenditures and prepare reports.
• Under Finances: A tentative budget shall be drafted in the fall for each school year and approved by a majority vote of the executive board members present at the first executive board meeting held at the beginning of each new school year.
• Also under Finances: The board shall approve all expenses of the organization with a majority vote.

So, is this basically saying that the Board approves the budget and does not need a vote from the general membership? This seems to be the way it's been done, but there has been so many things that hasn't followed the by-laws in the past and I personally want to make sure we set things straight and get on the right track from here on out.

We're looking forward to making changes for the better to improve parent involvement. Definitely communications is at the top of the list and I think we'll be talking about sending out an email next week to the current members giving them an update of last school year + a slew of other info including a survey.

Thanks for any input and interpretation on the by-laws section.

Honestly I think you face the same thing most of us face. I was our PTO president for 4 years when my older child was in the school, took some time off and back again (elected this may). A lot of the issues are the same thing when I was there before, but another year.

A couple thoughts for you:

- Bylaws are king - learn them and lean on them. Things like when you have meetings, how budget is voted on, etc should be in them. For our school we historically set budget in mid/late June and it's voted on during the September meeting. Also, our bylaws require 4 general meetings per year (sept and may end up being 2 of them).

- Don't wait until summer is over. We had elections two weeks ago, and the officers met the following week. We have filled standing committees with members and are schedule to meet "unofficially" this week already. Even though we are not officially the board until this year is over, we can still meet, discuss issues, plan, etc. We will have a meeting in June for planning (it's not a general board meeting) but it's just a planning meeting it's open to everyone. Eventually it will come down to the committees and board drafting a budget and making decisions (with the principal) but more ideas the better to get us to that stage. Also, including your teachers opinions, not just families.

- "how" business is done is really from the top down. If your leadership style is "more do it yourself" and not trusting, the style of PTO will follow. It sounds like you are addressing this part already.

- Everyone is a volunteer (you included) so spread the wealth. Empower those on the board to empower and work with others. How much is really up to you all, but if you only have 6 "true" active parents, you will all burn out by the new year.

ConnieM-
Congrats! We are glad that you found our community!

It sounds like you have a good handle on what the current situation is and have some solid ideas about what needs to be changed. The tricky thing is to go about suggesting and making these changes without pointing fingers.

Does your group have bylaws? It sounds like the first thing you should do is either re-visit your bylaws, if you have them, or write them if you don't. Check out our sample bylaws . Part of typical bylaws is guidelines on elections, finances and budgets and how you decide money gets spent.

Here are some answers to your questions:

* What exactly should warrant an entire membership meeting? Does the Board need to bring all of our fundraising and spending ideas for the school year to the general membership to vote on or do we (as a Board) decide based on committees and feedback from the membership?

This depends on your bylaws. Many groups vote on how spend money during general meetings, where board members and school community members attend.

* The part I struggle with is that our Board is elected in May, then schools out for the summer, and programs/events need to be planned. If we don't have committees at this time, then everything seems to be up to the Board, but then how does the membership get involved in expressing their wishes and opinions?

It should be an ongoing conversation through out the year. When is your last day of school? Most groups do hold elections towards the end of the year. Often groups do a volunteer interest survey at the end of school and at the beginning of school to match interests to committees.

* I have a friend who is giving me advice based on past experience with other organizations and she's saying that we essentially have to have every penny approved by the general membership (by votes) before spending a dime. So this brings more questions because things need to planned well in advance so again, the summer break is stumping me on how this would be accomplished if this is the case.

You do need to have expenditures approved before spending. Again this should be part of an ongoing conversation and clear guidelines for this should be found in your bylaws.

One thing to think about is dues. We recommend that you don't charge dues... read this article to understand why: www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/arti...-just-say-no-to-dues

Here are a few more links and articles that I thought you'd find helpful for getting started:
www.ptotoday.com/video
www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/arti...re-you-ready-to-lead
www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/arti...r-better-involvement
www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/arti...committee-management

Keep asking questions here and on Facebook . Look forward to seeing you around our community!

~Lisa



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Hello everyone! I'm overwhelmed by the amount of information made available on this site! There is so much and I'm enjoying all the great info.

I have recently been elected as our PVO president. I'm raring to go and have a very excited Board to work with, but I have SO many questions that I was hoping to get answers to from you

Our PVO is only about 3 years old, and although they have done a lot for the school in such a short amount of time as far as fundraising, teacher appreciation, and events for the kids/families, I don't believe things have been handled appropriately in many areas which I want to deal with first before our first board meeting in a few weeks.

So far, they've only had 2 meetings per year: one at the beginning of the year, then one at the end for elections. Committees are not involved and are never contacted (one item this Board will be addressing and fixing) and the general membership has never seen or heard of a budget, asked for ideas, asked to vote on anything other than the elections. The Board essentially has made all decisions and spent the money how they see fit in the past. Hopefully that's enough info to get the ball rolling so here it goes:

• What exactly should warrant an entire membership meeting? Does the Board need to bring all of our fundraising and spending ideas for the school year to the general membership to vote on or do we (as a Board) decide based on committees and feedback from the membership?
• The part I struggle with is that our Board is elected in May, then schools out for the summer, and programs/events need to be planned. If we don't have committees at this time, then everything seems to be up to the Board, but then how does the membership get involved in expressing their wishes and opinions?
• I have a friend who is giving me advice based on past experience with other organizations and she's saying that we essentially have to have every penny approved by the general membership (by votes) before spending a dime. So this brings more questions because things need to planned well in advance so again, the summer break is stumping me on how this would be accomplished if this is the case.

I think these questions are a good start. We have a lot of ideas and goals, as well as some damage control to fix this year (communication, membership & volunteers) and I want to be sure that we get on the right track in order to accomplish all of it.

Any advice or help is appreciated!