Voting and topic issue

[Guest Lisa]

I have a question. I am on a PTO board that follows Roberts Rules of Order The revised Edition. There are a number of issues with the board that I am currently serving on due to personality conflict. The president seems to be making up rules as she goes along and I need some advice.

We have a fathers club at our school. The father club elects it own president but does not have its own status, check book, or by-laws. All money raised by them goes into the PTO account. My husband was elected by to be president of the fathers club-due to a conflict with the president of the PTO he sent a resignation lette rto the population of the fathers club and carboned the president-this was a few weeks ago- Since then the fathers club men have convinced my husband to stay involved and another father has stepped up to act as a liason with the PTO board president-so that my husband does not have to deal directly with her. This issue is this: at our meeting last night- the president placed on the agenda (there is no published agenda ahead of the meeting) accepting his resignation and replacing him. My question is- if the PTO did not approve electing this person to start with- how can they take up the vote for someone new? I have read all the by-laws for our group and there is nothing that even remotely talks about the fathers club and in what capacity it deals with the PTO.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

I am on a PTO board that follows Roberts Rules of Order The revised Edition.

This is a problem.

I don't know what book you are referring to.

It isn't "Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised".

So you are kind of on your own.

There are a number of issues with the board that I am currently serving on due to personality conflict.

The president seems to be making up rules as she goes along and I need some advice.

We have a fathers club at our school.

The father club elects it own president but

does not have its own status, check book, or by-laws.

All money raised by them goes into the PTO account.

My husband was elected by to be president of the fathers club-due to a conflict with the president of the PTO he sent a resignation letter to the population of the fathers club and carboned the president-this was a few weeks ago- Since then the fathers club men have convinced my husband to stay involved and another father has stepped up to act as a liason with the PTO board president-so that my husband does not have to deal directly with her.

This issue is this:

at our meeting last night- the president placed on the agenda (there is no published agenda ahead of the meeting) accepting his resignation and replacing him.

My question is-

if the PTO did not approve electing this person to start with-

how can they take up the vote for someone new?

I don't know.

I don't know the RELATIONSHIP between the two halves of your organization.

You are not asking a question about Robert's Rules of Order.

You are asking a question about your own unique bylaws, i.e., the RELATIONSHIP between two bodies.

• I don't know the relationship.

• You don't know the relationship.

• The Book (RONR) does not know the relationship.

All this is confounded, of course, with the double whammy of:

(1.) the fathers club has no bylaws.

(2.) the PTO has nothing in its bylaws which mentions the fathers club.

So, for those keeping score at home, 100% of your people (and 100% of today's readers on this Q&A Forum) are 100% in the dark.

Perfection!

I have read all the by-laws for our group and there is nothing that even remotely talks about the fathers club and in what capacity it deals with the PTO.

"Yeow!"

If your bylaws do not mention the other body, then I would propose to you that THERE IS NO SUCH BODY.

That is, they are acting independently, and they report to NO ONE.

And you've already said that your "fathers club" itself likewise has NO BYLAWS.

And you want a canned answer from Robert's Rules of Order? - It ain't happening.

[hmtcastle]

My question is- if the PTO did not approve electing this person to start with- how can they take up the vote for someone new? I have read all the by-laws for our group and there is nothing that even remotely talks about the fathers club and in what capacity it deals with the PTO.

You might want to familiarize yourself with the concept of the "burden of proof". In this case, the president of the PTO is claiming the authority to do something you don't think she has the authority to do. The burden of proof is on her to justify her claim, not on you to prove it false.

If someone says that the moon is made of cheese, you could spend the rest of your life looking for a book that says it isn't. The fact that you can't find such a book doesn't mean that the moon is made of cheese.

[hmtcastle]

I am on a PTO board that follows Roberts Rules of Order The revised Edition.

This is a problem.

I don't know what book you are referring to.

It isn't "Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised".

So you are kind of on your own.

Really?

[Josh Martin]

The father club elects it own president but does not have its own status, check book, or by-laws... I have read all the by-laws for our group and there is nothing that even remotely talks about the fathers club and in what capacity it deals with the PTO.

From the facts provided, it seems that the father's club is a temporary society and is entirely independent of the PTO. It would be highly advisable for the father's club to draft Bylaws to formalize its status as an organization. See RONR, 10th ed., Section 54.