BY-LAWS
Of The
HARDY SCHOOL PARENT-TEACHER ORGANIZATION
ARTICLE 1: Name
1.1 The name of this organization is the Hardy School Parent-Teacher Organization. It shall hereinafter be referred to throughout these By-Laws as the “PTO” or the “Organization".
ARTICLE 2: Purposes
2.1 The objectives of the PTO are:
2.1.1 To promote the welfare of children in home, school and community.
2.1.2 To promote understanding between parents, school and students.
2.1.3 To assist the staff in providing for the educational needs of students.
2.1.4 To foster cooperation and understanding between the school and the community.
2.1.5 To strengthen the relationship between home and school and to promote the cooperation between parents and teachers in the education of the children.
2.1.6 To unite efforts between educators and the general public to secure the highest advantage in physical, mental, social cultural and academic education for all children.
2.1.7 To develop and pursue goals that are aligned with the goals of the school.
ARTICLE 3: Basic Policies
3.1 The PTO shall be noncommercial, nonsectarian and nonpartisan.
3.2 The name of the PTO or the names of any members in their official capacities shall not be used to endorse or promote a commercial concern in connection with any partisan interest or for any purpose not appropriately related to promotion of the objectives of the PTO.
3.3 The PTO shall not, directly or indirectly, participate or intervene (in any way, including the publishing or distributing of statements) in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office; or devote more than an insubstantial part of its activities to attempting to influence legislation by propaganda or otherwise.
3.4 The PTO shall seek neither to interfere with the administration of the school nor to control administrative policies.
3.5 The PTO may cooperate with other organizations and agencies concerned with child welfare, but persons representing the PTO in such matters shall make no commitments that bind the PTO.
3.6 Criticism of individual teachers, administrators, parents or students shall not he voiced in open meetings.
3.7 No Member (as defined in Article 4.1 herein) of the PTO shall contract for or incur any debt or enter into any agreement or otherwise obligate the PTO except by authority of the Executive Board (as defined in Article 5.1 herein).
3.8 All Members of the PTO in good standing (as defined in Article 4.4 herein) shall have access to published PTO information stored in any format, including hard copy and electronic (locally or remotely stored). Any member in good standing is eligible for membership to the PTO online group where access to electronic information is available.
ARTICLE 4: Members, Membership and Dues
4.1 Membership in the PTO shall be available to any Hardy School parent, guardian, adult family member, teacher, administrator or staff member who subscribes to the Purposes and Basic Policies of this Organization. All persons with membership in the PTO who are not Officers of the Executive Board, shall hereinafter be referred to as “Members” or “Member”.
4.2 The annual dues shall be established by the Executive Board prior to the membership year. Anyone unable to pay dues because of financial hardship will not be denied membership.
4.3 The membership year shall be from September 1 through August 31. There shall be an annual membership drive conducted, but persons may be admitted to membership at any time.
4.4 A Member in good standing of this PTO is one who abides by these By-Laws and who has paid their current dues or is exempt from dues due to financial hardship.
4.5 Members are encouraged to attend meetings and to voice their opinions and ideas openly at the meetings.
4.6 Meetings are open to the entire Hardy community and notice shall be made to the community of the time and place that the meeting shall be held.
ARTICLE 5: The Executive Board, Officers and Their Duties
5.1 The Officers of the PTO, individually known as the “Officers” and collectively known as the “Executive Board”, consist of two (2) Co-Presidents, two (2) Co-Vice Presidents, two (2) Teacher Representatives, At-Large Representatives, (1) one Corresponding Secretary, (1) one Recording Secretary, (1) one Membership Secretary, (1) one (1) or two (2) Treasurers and the Principal of Hardy school who shall server ex-officio and without vote.
5.2 The Co-Presidents shall preside at all meetings of the organization, shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed in these By-Laws or assigned to them by the Organization or by the Executive Board and shall coordinate the work of the Officers and committees of the Organization in order that the objectives may be promoted.
5.3 The Co-Vice Presidents shall act as aides to the Co-Presidents, shall perform the duties of the Co-Presidents in the absence or inability of those Officers to serve, and shall perform such other duties as may be delegated to them.
5.4 The Recording Secretary shall record the minutes of all meetings of the Organization and of the Executive Board. The Recording Secretary shall keep a copy of the By-Laws. She/he shall perform such other duties as may be delegated to her/him.
5.5 The Corresponding Secretary shall write all correspondence pertaining to the Organization’s business, shall oversee publicity and shall perform such other duties as may be delegated to her/him. The Corresponding Secretary shall also communicate the Organizations business to the local community as well as the Hardy School community.
5.6 The Membership Secretary shall be responsible for maintaining the membership list and for all activities relating to acquiring new members. His/her goal is to maximize membership numbers of the PTO.
5.7 The Treasurer (s) shall have custody of the financial information of the Organization and at all times shall keep an accurate record of receipts and expenditures and shall pay out funds as allowed by his/her own authority or as authorized by the Executive Board. She/he shall make reports at each meeting and shall present a financial statement when requested by the Executive Board and at the first and last meeting of the membership year.
The Treasurer (s) shall work with a Budget Committee to present the budget of the Organization for the following year at the annual meeting in June. The Budget Committee shall be appointed by the Executive Board in sufficient time to allow for a budget proposal and shall be made up of Members in good standing. At the Executive Board's discretion or at the request of 10% of the Membership, the Treasurer’s accounts shall be audited by an Auditing Committee of two members prior to the end of each year. The Auditing Committee shall be appointed by the Co-Presidents with approval of the Executive Board and shall be chosen from any PTO Member in good standing.
5.8 The Teacher Representatives shall be responsible for bringing all staff topics/concerns to the Executive Board and communicating PTO concerns to the staff. Teacher Representatives shall enjoy all voting rights accorded to PTO Officers.
5.9 The At-Large Representatives shall serve as voting members of the Executive Board and shall perform such other duties as may be delegated to her/him.
5.10.The privilege of introducing motions and voting shall be limited to the Executive Board.
5.11All Officers are expected to attend all Executive Board meetings and shall share with other Officers the responsibility of serving as Committee Contact Persons as described in Section 8.1.
5.12All Officers shall deliver to their successors all official material not later than thirty days following the assumption of their official duties.
5.13Special meetings shall be called by a Co-President upon the written request of 10 percent of the Members in good standing or a majority of the Executive Board, with at least 48 hours written notice.
5.14The Co-President(s) or other presiding Officer of the PTO may order the postponement of a vote on any issue until the next scheduled PTO meeting when more research is necessary. The person postponing the vote may appoint the Executive Board or a special committee to review the proposal, and analyze its impact if any on the PTO budget. The Executive Board will make a recommendation on the proposal after being informed about the results of the research at the next scheduled meeting.
5.15Disputes and disagreements shall be resolved in the following manner: 1) any Member in good standing may bring a dispute to the PTO Executive Board for resolution by describing the dispute to and requesting a special meeting from the Co-Presidents. The Co-Presidents shall call a special meeting of the Executive Board according to the guidelines listed in Article 5.13. If the special meeting is called and scheduled, the disputing parties shall present their grievance(s) to the Executive Board at the special meeting. The Executive Board shall then discuss the grievance in closed session without the disputing parties present, come up with one or more fair and equitable solutions and vote upon a final, binding resolution to the dispute. The Executive Board shall be bound by the resulting solution and shall not take any further action on the disputed matter(s).
ARTICLE 6: Executive Board and Meetings
6.1 The Executive Board shall consist of the Officers (as defined in section 5.1). The Executive Board shall direct and manage the activities of the Organization.
6.2 The duties of the Executive Board shall be:
6.2.1 To transact necessary business.
6.2.2 To create committees and to approve the work plans of the committees.
6.2.3 To report any action taken by the Executive Board at the next regular meeting of the Organization.
6.2.4 To work with administration to identify goals for the current membership year.
6.2.5 To adopt a budget as recommended by the Budget Committee (section 5.7).
6.3 The presence in person of a majority of the Officers of the Executive Board shall constitute a quorum. A majority vote of the Executive Board members at any meeting shall carry any action brought to vote, provided that a quorum is present. If the Executive Board reaches an impasse on any issue, it will go to the Members for vote.
6.4 Meetings of the Executive Board shall occur monthly in accordance with a schedule established at the first Executive Board meeting. Schedule changes shall be agreed upon by majority vote.
6.5 Executive Board meetings shall be open to all PTO Members.
ARTICLE 7: Nominations and Elections
7.1 There shall be an Election Committee composed of at least three (3) Members but not more than five (5) Members who shall be appointed by the Executive Board. Election Committee Members shall be Members in good standing. The Executive Board shall appoint a Chairperson of the Election Committee.
7.2 The Election Committee shall solicit nominations for Officers from Hardy School families and staff, approximately two (2) months prior to the June PTO meeting.
7.3 Any Hardy School parent or guardian shall be eligible for nomination. Any individual nominated for more than one office may run for only one office and shall have to indicate which office he/she is running for prior to the voting sessions for the annual election.
7.4 Consent from the nominee shall be obtained by the Election Committee and confirmed one (1) week prior to the voting sessions for the annual election. The Election Committee shall also obtain a written biographical statement from each nominee one (1) week prior to the voting sessions for the annual election.
7.5 The election of Officers shall take place the day before the May meeting. Any Hardy School parent or guardian may cast a vote. Voting shall take place from 8:00am until 6:00pm. The Election Committee shall be available to assist voters one half-hour at the beginning of the school day and one half-hour at the end of the school day. During the rest of the day, the ballot box shall be kept in a publicly accessible location within sight of a school official so that parents and guardians can vote at any time during the day. The ballot box shall be accompanied by a list of eligible voters and each voter shall sign his/her name on the voter list after voting. Voters shall receive a written ballot accompanied by each candidate’s biographical statement. Absentee ballots shall be available to those parents or guardians who cannot be present to vote at the school on voting day. Ballots shall be sent home in students' backpacks the day before the election. Parents must fill out the ballot and put it in an envelope which should be returned to the school the next day (the day of the election). The Election Committee shall count all ballots, and the Officers shall be elected by a majority vote of the ballots cast. The votes shall be counted and the results of the election shall be published within 48 hours of the election.
7.6 Any Hardy School parent or guardian who is voted onto the PTO board and who accepts their position shall be required to be a Member in good standing of the Hardy PTO during the year that they serve as an officer of the board.
7.7 Officers shall assume their official duties at the end of the current school year in which they are elected and shall serve one year and until their successors are elected.
7.8 No one person shall serve in any office for more than two (2) consecutive years, except if accepted by a majority vote of the Executive Board before the elections take place.
7.9 A vacancy occurring during the term of an Officer shall be filled for the un-expired term by the person who received the next highest number of votes for the position being filled. If there was no other person running for the position, then the position shall be opened up to any Member of the PTO in good standing. A majority vote by the Executive Board would then determine the person to fill the position.
ARTICLE 8: Committees
8.1 Committees shall be created by the Executive Board as may be required to promote the purposes and interests of the Organization. Each Committee shall have a member of the Executive Board as its Committee Contact Person.
8.2 The Chairpersons of the Committees shall be appointed by the Committee Contact Person. It the absence of a Chairperson, the Committee Contact Person shall serve as Chairperson. Only Members in good standing shall be eligible to serve as Chairpersons of Committees. Their term shall be for the duration of the project.
8.3 Each committee shall present a plan of work before the start of the project to the Committee Contact Person, who shall report to the Executive Board. No committee work shall be undertaken without approval of the Committee Contact Person. The plan of work shall include goals for the project, a schedule and a budget if necessary.
8.4 When requested by the Board, Committee Contact Persons shall make reports of their projects at Executive Board meetings.
8.5 The Chairpersons of the Committees shall be responsible for the deposit with the Treasurer of all funds collected within seven (7) days of the completion of a project.
8.6 The Chairpersons of the Committees shall be responsible for making sure that Committee fulfills its goals in a timely manner.
8.7 The Co-Presidents shall be ex-officio members of all Committees except the Nominating Committee.
8.8 Standing Committees shall consist of the Election Committee, the Reserve Fund Committee, The Fundraising Committee, the Budget Committee and the Enrichment Committee.
ARTICLE 9: Personal Liability
9.1 The Members and Officers of the Organization shall not be personally liable for any debt, liability or obligation of the Organization. All persons, corporations or other entities extending credit to, contracting with, or having any claim against the Organization, may look only to the funds and property of the Organization for the payment of any debt, damages, judgment or decree, or of any money that may otherwise become due or payable to them from the Organization.
ARTICLE 10: Budget and Funds
10.1The operating budget for the PTO in any particular calendar year shall come exclusively from fundraising efforts from that same calendar year. The PTO shall keep a minimum of one third of the operating budget in reserve. This reserve shall only be used for emergency situations and to fund ordinary expenses in advance of collecting revenues and shall be replenished before the end of the school year.
10.2Any and all funds requested and approved for spending during a particular school year must be spent on the item or items for which the funds were approved by the end of the last day of that school year unless the original approval specifically allowed the spending to extend into the next school year.. An extension to the spending date can be requested in writing to the PTO board, which shall vote to approve or reject the request.
10.3A budget shall be maintained, shall be kept up-to-date and shall be presented at every monthly board meeting by the PTO Treasurer.
10.4The budget shall be published and made available to any member of the Hardy community in either electronic or hard-copy format.
ARTICLE 11: Parliamentary Authority
11.1 Roberts Rules of Order shall govern this Organization in all cases to which they are applicable and not in conflict with the By-Laws of the Organization.
ARTICLE 12: Amendments
12.1These By-Laws may be amended in whole or in part at any meeting of the Executive Board by a majority vote of the Officers present following consideration and proposals by the Co-Presidents and Co-Vice-Presidents. Notice of the amendments must be given to all Members at least 48 hours prior to the meeting or may be presented at any regular meeting to be voted on at the next regular meeting.
12.2These By-Laws may also be amended by vote of a majority of the Executive Board.
Adopted By the Executive Board, after presentation to the Officers and Members in attendance, February 1st, 2005