Add Chairs of Standing Committees to Board or not?

[Guest Daisy Carrington]

Dear Friends,

We have started a brand new PTA, have very loose bylaws (as dictated by State PTA), and operate using Roberts Rules. The officers have determined that we will have open meetings. We have the option to add chairs of standing committees to the board or not. I am looking for guidance on this subject. I have recommended to the officers some options: 1) add none since we are having open meetings 2) add all so as not to create the sense that we are being selective 3) add only the uber-important ones (fundraising) but explain the reasoning and criteria in the standing rules (not yet written). I've explained to the officers how the addition of the chairs will affect our quorum. Anyone have recommendations or thoughts on this subject? Thanks!

[jstackpo]

If your PTA has Directors who are otherwise given no particular assignments, that may be enough to get multiple viewpoints.  Or, once someone is elected, put him/her in a committee chair position as their interests and talents indicate.

 

Common board members/committee chairs are Finance, as you suggested, audit, membership, nominating, ethics (maybe), program.  Be sure to look at p. 587 for how to establish other Standing or Special Committees in the future as needs change and develop, without having to amend the bylaws.

[Edgar Guest]

We have the option to add chairs of standing committees to the board or not. I am looking for guidance on this subject.

 

What you are referring to are known as ex-officio positions. That is, because a person happens to hold one position (e.g. chair of a committee) she'll automatically hold another position (e.g. membership on the board).

 

Sometimes this makes sense. For example, many organizations will make the president an ex-officio member of all committees (except the nominating committee). This gives her the right (but not the obligation) to attend committee meeting so she can keep up with what's going on.

 

But I'd be reluctant to add ex-officio members to the board. A person might make an outstanding chair of the Refreshments Committee but could be a disaster as a board member. On the other hand, if this person would make a great board member, she can always be (directly) elected to the board.

 

In short, beware of things that happen automatically.

[Transpower]

I recommend adding the chairs of all the standing committees to the board, particularly if the the chairs report to the board.  In my experience, the real work of an organization takes place in the standing committees.

[Gary Novosielski]

If I remember my PTA days correctly, all the "board" members were actually ex-officio. Direct elections took place office-by-office, and the board comprised the elected officers and perhaps committee chairs but I can't recall for sure.

[Guest Daisy Carrington]

We can select which committee chairs sit on the board. Looking for sound advice on the topic. With open meetings, in essence all chairs can participate in board meetings, just not vote, unless we add them to the board. President is ex officio of all committees.

[Edgar Guest]

Keep in mind that, if the chairs of all standing committees are ex-officio members of the board, when you add a new standing committee you're automatically adding an additional member to the board (a fact that, years from now, might be forgotten or at least overlooked). And, again, the qualities that might make a person a good chair of a committee might not make him a good member of the board.

 

I recommend adding the chairs of all the standing committees to the board, particularly if the the chairs report to the board.  

 

I'm not sure how the fact that a committee reports to the board suggests that the chair of the committee should be a member of the board. Lot's of people can report to the board (e.g. the treasurer) without being a member of the board.

[Shmuel Gerber]

We can select which committee chairs sit on the board. Looking for sound advice on the topic. With open meetings, in essence all chairs can participate in board meetings, just not vote, unless we add them to the board. President is ex officio of all committees.

Having open meetings does NOT mean that anyone other than board members can participate in any way. It simply means they can attend the meetings.