It’s PTA election season, but what does your PTA do when your nominating committee can’t find someone to run for an office? Here are three steps to take.

  1. Start with your bylaws. Your PTA bylaws spell out how electing officers takes place. They spell out how long a term is and how many terms a person can serve in an officer position. Your bylaws also likely include “or until their successors are elected and assume their duties.” That means that if you can’t find someone to fill an officer position, the person currently in the position can continue to serve until someone new can be elected. That could mean that you find someone willing to serve over the summer and elect them at your first PTA meeting of the year, or perhaps that your officer serves out the full year if no one else is willing to serve.
  2. What if the person in the position is unable or unwilling to serve another year? Perhaps your current officer is moving on to another school or moving away from the area. Perhaps they are just done serving as a PTA officer. Whatever the reason, you have a vacancy that your PTA will need to cover somehow while hunting for someone to serve in that position. Your approach will vary depending on which office has the vacancy. If the PTA President position is vacant, but you’ve elected a Vice President, the VP can act as president until a new president can be elected. A vacancy in the Vice President position can often be managed without much difficulty, as the duties of the VP are to fill in when the president is unavailable and any other duties assigned by the president. That may mean a little schedule juggling to ensure the president can be at the meetings they need to preside over. A vacancy at Secretary can be handled by appointing a secretary for any meeting that needs minutes taken. A vacancy at Treasurer is probably the most difficult to cover. After all, your PTA will still be bringing in money, collecting dues, and writing checks, so the work must be done. If your PTA is only missing the treasurer, serving as interim treasurer can be assigned to the VP. Otherwise, your PTA can have the executive committee (all elected officers) serve as a Ways and Means committee to cover the duties of the treasurer. You’ll still want to have two signatures on checks and maintain good financial security practices. You’ll also need to have an audit done when you do elect a new treasurer, as signatories will be changing, it will assure the incoming treasurer that they are taking over a clean set of books, and it protects those who filled in from being accused of any improper financial activities.
  3. OK, we’ve got someone willing to serve. Now what? You’ll need to hold an election at your next general membership meeting. Announce that there will be an election at the meeting at least 30 days in advance. Make sure your potential new officer is a member of the PTA. At the election meeting, the president (or officer presiding) will announce that there is “a vacancy for _______ position” and ask for nominees from the floor. Your potential new officer should be nominated, and the president should confirm that they are willing to serve if elected. The president should then ask three times if there are any other nominations for the position. If hearing none, proceed with the election as you normally would—by a voice vote if unopposed or by ballot if there is more than one nominee.

Photo © 2006 by wl under Creative Commons license.