PTA

[Delala]

Advice needed please. Can the school secretary also be secretary of the pta even though a parent has shown an interest to the chair? Thanks

I think it would be bad practice.

The PTA should be separate to the school, with liaison where necessary.

There should also be separate bank accounts with preferably 2 signatures on the PTA cheques.

It depends what your constitution says.

First of all: how do you define your membership? Is it all parents and carers? Does it include all school staff or just teachers?

How do you appoint/elect officers? These are normally Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. There could be more. They are normally chosen by members from members: therefore parents/school staff according to your definition of membership. What does the constitution say about how the PTA selects/elects officers and do they have to be members?

Are all school staff members? Is the school secretary a member as a parent or as a member of staff? Or not a member at all?

If you say the Secretary of the PTA must be a parent member, then the parent who has offered takes the job. If they are equal in status, you have to have an election.

If you don’t have a constitution, that’s your next job! It’s vital.

Hope this helps.

Thank both we have a constitution and the pta is made up of parents/carers and all staff I'm not sure about the school secretary though. We were told byou the chair the secretary had been appointed and asked if we all agreed. We all just nodded and said there was no point saying anything as it had already been decided. The chair and school staff have also had a meeting with pta uk without any other members knowledge

It is reasonable for the Chair to have meetings without informing all and sundry first.
It is not reasonable for the chair to unilaterally appoint a secretary. It should be 'xxx has offered to be secretary what do we think?' which enables issues of conflict of interest to be raised.

It sounds to me as if there should be a discussion point at the next meeting re scope of roles 'just so as everyone is clear'

• who gets to co-opt committee members
• who signs cheques
• who has to authorise spending (eg 3 key roles up to £100, committee up to £400, wider membership for larger spends (which could be 'in principle' in advance eg at an AGM)
• how secretary avoids any conflict of interest

If a Chair has meetings, they should report such meetings to the committee otherwise it breeds lack of trust. The School secretary, normally, cannot just be given the post. It’s an officer of the PTA and it has duties. What does the constitution say about an election? How should a Secretary be appointed?

All staff may well mean all staff and not just teachers. Appointments are usually done at the AGM and are on the agenda. What does the constitution say about that? What happens if more then one person stands for election?

Is this a new PTA? You could accept the secretary’s appointment for the moment and then ensure the procedures are followed from the AGM onwards. Of course it’s down to the Chairman and the Secretary to organise the AGM and ask for volunteers to come forward for the posts but I would read the constitution and make sure they follow what is written in it. Otherwise it’s rather pointless having it!

PTA UK provide (or at least used to provide) a pro forma constitution that could be adopted easily by PTAs.

I would definitely double check that PTA money is completely separate from school money.

Teen is correct but sometimes a committee appoints officers from amongst themselves and sometimes it’s at the AGM. This is why there must be a constitution. The financial regulations you adopt are important too. If your financial turnover is high enough (I cannot remember the exact figure) you must be a Registered Charity. Plenty to think about!

If your income is over £5000 you must register as a charity.

Parentkind (formerly PTA UK) has a good breakdown of the committee members roles.

Personally (as a new PTA chair) I wouldn't have a school staff member as secretary when a parent wants the role. We have a specific role of school liaison officer in our group which is filled by a staff member so school feel involved IYSWIM.