Amending a Constitution

[Guest Salin]

Back again, with our quirky little middle school (junior high) Parent Council Constitution problems.

Here is the scoop...

Our Constitution provides:

- that amendments shall be made at the Annual Meeting

- that the Annual Meeting must be held no later than September 30 of each year

- that Notice of any proposed amendments must be circulated at least 21 days in advance

If, therefore, the AGM was scheduled for Sept 30, then the Notice of proposed amendments would have had to be out by Sept 9. But this year, school did not even start until Sept 8 and the very first Council Meeting, which was the AGM, was held on Sept 23.

The Council wishes to make some amendments, including some to the amendment process itself, but, as we had our AGM already (on Sept 23)we are not sure how/if we can do it. There is no specific provision to call any sort of special meeting. And part of the problem is that there is very little in the way of continuation of the Executive members, as the school only houses 2 grades.

Any suggestions ?

[Kim Goldsworthy]

...middle school (junior high) Parent Council Constitution problems.

Our Constitution provides:

- that amendments shall be made at the Annual Meeting

- that the Annual Meeting must be held no later than September 30 of each year

- that Notice of any proposed amendments must be circulated at least 21 days in advance

If, therefore, the AGM was scheduled for Sept 30,

then the Notice of proposed amendments would have had to be out by Sept 9.

But this year, school did not even start until Sept 8 and the very first Council Meeting, which was the AGM, was held on Sept 23.

The Council wishes to make some amendments, including some to the amendment process itself, but, as we had our AGM already (on Sept 23) we are not sure how/if we can do it.

There is no specific provision to call any sort of special meeting.

And part of the problem is that there is very little in the way of continuation of the Executive members, as the school only houses 2 grades.

Are you saying, the number of days' notice is insufficient?

If the notice is insufficient, then no amendments to the Constitution will be possible.

The fact that the first day of school is inconveniently close to the cut-off date, is immaterial.

Your constitution does not care about "first day of school." (It could have. But it didn't.)

Since the deadline is hard and fast, any argument about "first day of school" is only a source of sympathy, and not a source of parliamentary justification or validity.

(Why didn't you guys just write into your constitution that "the last day of notice shall be the first day of school," and leave out any fixed number of days?)

You could have satisfied the notice requirement via mail, per Robert's Rules of Order. You didn't have to wait for the first day of school to give notice. Just stuff some envelopes. Just like some stamps. It would have been so straight forward to mail the parents/students the notice in a timely manner, during the REGISTRATION period, when you got all the names and addresses, and send out a nice "welcome" letter plus the necessary notices.

But no. You waited.

[hmtcastle]

Any suggestions ?

Wait until next year (since it appears you have no other choice). That will give you plenty of time to think about amendments to your constitution which will make it more appropriate to your particular circumstances.

Changes to the meeting schedule is one obvious area of concern. You might also want to address the lack of "continuity" by permitting parents of former students to sit on your board. It's time to think outside the box.

[jstackpo]

A more draconian approach - so far out of the box that you can't even see the box behind you - is to simply get together and form a brand new P-T Association -- see RONR p. 536 ff. for how-to instructions and steps. When you do so, get the bylaws right, this time.

The old (current) association will continue to exist, of course, but, after a while, without members. If the old group has any property, the (old) members can give it all to the new P-T Association. And if the old members want to dot the t's and cross the i's, they can rescind the bylaws of the old organization (giving proper notice of course; rescinding is an "amendment" to the bylaws) next year.

[Guest Salin]

Thanks ! I very much appreciate the practical ( and even the draconian ) suggestions, as opposed to the "you should have" chidings.