President Tips

1. Become informed by reading the materials in this packet. You will need to share many of the packet items with your officers and chairmen. Hopefully you will be fortunate enough to attend a packet conference where the contents will be discussed. (If not, you may request that a state board member come to a meeting of your Executive Board to explain the packet.) After you have studied the materials, call a meeting of your Executive Board to distribute and discussthe materials with them. These materials are tools that do no one any good unless they are used.

2. Be realistic as you plan for the year ahead. One or two projects well researched and carried out to successful conclusions are worth more than a multitude of hit-or-miss efforts. Use the President’s Report as a guide for activities.

3. Do not try to do everything yourself. Every person in your PTA has something to contribute. Delegating responsibilities not only builds leadership but also saves you time and energy. Remember -- there is a difference between delegating and assigning. So don't "assign" a job to someone that doesn't want to do that particular thing but do "delegate" by "entrusting" responsibilities to others.

4. Direct your unit's activities to important community issues. It's fun to have festivals and carnivals and easy to have the choir perform for a meeting but personal involvement and commitment to those "sticky" issues that we all face today is sometimes difficult but absolutely necessary. These issues are PTA business and we are there doing what is in the best interest of children and their future.

5. Become informed by reading the Our Children.

6. Become informed by attending your school board meetings. Speak with your board members, your superintendent, and other administrators in your community about school and education issues.

7. Become informed by meeting and talking with your own legislators. Provide opportunities for them to speak to your group and let them know how your membership feels about specific issues concerning the children in your community. Just keep in mind that PTA is concerned with principles and issues and NOT political parties or candidates.

8. Become informed by attending all opportunities for leadership development offered by the State PTA i.e. - Leadership Conferences, Legislative Conferences, Region Conferences and State Convention. The future strength of your unit/council depends greatly on well trained leaders.

9. Remember -- you are not alone. Help is as near as your telephone. Look at the Board of Managers Directory and find the name of your Regional Vice President, or anyone else on the board that you might feel comfortable with, and put a check beside that name. Call them at the first opportunity and get acquainted. Any board member would be happy to speak with you and assist you in any way possible, now or in the future. Board of Managers personnel will be calling you during the year to see how things are going.

Does he have special talents or skills (such as typing, or bookkeeping or a thorough knowledge of parliamentary procedures), which would especially qualify him for a certain office?

Does he have the personal qualities, which will present and represent the association well in the community?

8. When to call a candidate: A prospective candidate should be contacted only after the committee has approved doing so. Generally the chairman asks the member if the committee may place his name in nomination. Another committee member may do so if agreed upon in committee.

9. Office to be discussed first: Practically speaking, the nominee for the office of president should be agreed upon first, with vice president(s), secretary (or secretaries), and treasurer secured in that order.

10. Agreeing on a candidate: Selection of a candidate should be by a majority vote. Each committee member should be urged to express his views before a vote is taken. No deliberations of the committee should be discussed outside the committee meeting. When agreement is reached the prospective candidates should be contacted by telephone if this can be done, preferably while the committee is together.

11. Discussion with a prospective candidate: The prospect should be informed about the duties, obligations and responsibilities of the office, and be approached in such a way that he will regard being asked an honor. He should be given time to consider and should agree to serve if elected. He should be asked not to divulge the information that he has been contacted.

12. Number of nominees: The number of nominees for each office depends upon provisions in the bylaws. If the provision calls for "at least" one name for each office, the committee may list more if it so decides. Association members will have an opportunity to nominate from the floor at the proper time.

13. Selection of committee members as nominees: The question is frequently asked about the propriety of having members of the Nominating Committee named by that committee for office. Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, page 364, states: "Members of the Nominating Committee are not barred from becoming nominees for office. To make such a requirement would mean, first, that service on the Nominating Committee carried a penalty by depriving its members of one of their privileges, and second, that appointment to the Nominating Committee could be used to prevent a member from becoming a nominee."

14. Report of the committee: The committee report is signed by all members who concur with it. The report of the Nominating Committee is made at a meeting as stipulated in your unit/council bylaws. Nominations from the floor are in order as provided for in the bylaws. If the Nominating Committee is unable to fill position, it reports this fact and then nominations from the floor take effect.

15. Withdrawal of a nominee: If a nominee withdraws before the election is held, the committee is revived unless the bylaws or standing rules provide other wise.

16. Completion of obligations: The committee's work is completed when its report has been presented to the association's membership and the election has been held. If an officer is not elected at the election meeting or a vacancy occurs after election, check your bylaws. Most will say it is the responsibility of the Executive Committee to fill the vacancy.