Standing Rules

Louise Archer Elementary School PTA Standing Rules Revised September 2016

Name of Organization: Louise Archer Elementary School PTA
Employer ID: 510250536
National PTA Number:
Council Affiliation:
District Affiliation:
State Affiliation: The Louise Archer PTA is affiliated with the National PTA and the Virginia PTA and as such is governed by the Local Unit Bylaws and the Virginia PTA Bylaws. This organization is organized within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

I. Administration

  1. Executive Board Duties:

    1. Executive Board members are expected to attend all regular and special meetings of the Executive Board, assigned committee meetings, and general membership meetings. Failure to attend 3 consecutive board meetings without being excused is grounds for removal from the board. If unable to attend meetings, notify the PTA President.

    2. Executive board members are expected to help carry out the program at general membership meetings.

    3. Procedure books shall be kept current and at the end of the term of office each officer shall turn over books to incoming officers and chairmen shall turn over books to the PTA President.

  2. Meetings:

    1. The PTA Executive Board will meet prior to General Membership meetings. Minutes will be kept of each Executive Board meeting and published on the PTA website at least three (3) days prior to the next General Membership meeting.

    2. Regular meetings of the General Membership shall be held at least eight times per year. General Membership meetings generally will be held on the last Monday of each month from September to May, except December. Meeting times generally will alternate between 9:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. in an effort to accommodate the largest number of members.

    3. All Minutes will be typed and sent to the Executive Board for review within 5 days of the meeting. The approved Minutes generally will be posted on the PTA website within two weeks (14 days) of the meeting.

    4. All motions and accompanying votes will be recorded in the minutes.

    5. The Chairperson of the Membership Committee shall provide a list of the current PTA members to the Secretary. This list shall be provided monthly. The Secretary shall utilize the list to determine quorum for votes conducted at the General Membership meetings.

    6. All Meetings should follow Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised.

  3. Financial Matters:

    1. Monthly Reconciliation: A member of the Executive Board without bank account signatory privileges or a member of the Treasurer Committee shall meet with the Treasurer to reconcile and approve the monthly bank statements. The Treasurer may offer explanations in regards to the bank statements, but shall not perform the reconciliation.

    2. Treasurer Records: The Treasurer shall provide a written financial statement at every general Membership meeting and when requested by the Executive Board. The Treasurer shall keep a copy of each meeting’s minutes in the Treasurer’s files.

    3. Annual Budget: In April of each year, the President will ask for volunteers to serve on the budget committee for the upcoming fiscal year for the PTA. The budget committee should be formed and a chairperson selected by May. Members of the Budget Committee should agree to serve on the Committee for a 12 month period to the best of their ability. The President will ask each Committee /Program Chairperson for a projected budget for the upcoming year. Based on the feedback from Chairpersons, any projected or known upcoming needs, and input from the school administration, a preliminary budget should be created and finalized by June 30th for the upcoming Fiscal year. The preliminary budget will be given to the Audit Committee in July. The preliminary budget will be voted upon and adopted at the September General Membership PTA meeting.

    4. Committee Budgets: All volunteers are expected to keep track of their expenditures for their programs should adhere to the committee’s approved budget. If it is necessary to spend more than is budgeted, prior approval (before the expense is incurred) must be obtained from the PTA President for amounts between $250 and $500. For amounts over $500, prior approval is required by a vote of the PTA General Membership. For any amounts over the budget up to $249.99, the Committee Chairperson shall provide a written and signed explanation for the overage to be included with the program receipts in the Treasurer’s records. Budget overages should be avoided and should occur only under extraordinary circumstances.

    5. Revenues: All monies collected in connection with PTA programs belong to the PTA. They will be processed according to generally accepted accounting principles. No deposits should be made by anyone other than the Treasurer and her committee. For questions, please contact the Treasurer at treasurer@louisearcherpta.org.

    6. Event Fund Handling: All monies collected in connection with a PTA event belong to the PTA. If cash is needed prior to an event, the event chairperson should fill out a disbursement form requesting the cash 2 weeks prior to the event. At the end of the event, the chairperson should count and total all of the cash that has been collected. A second individual should independently recount and re-total all cash that is collected. The collected cash should be given to the Treasurer or President at the time of the event or as soon as possible.

    7. Program Payment Status: Program chairs are required to monitor the payment status of their program’s participants, using our custom-built access to the online registration database. This tool has been created to give chairs easy access to all the information they need about their registrants; the information is also available for download as a .csv file. Please contact the webmaster at webmaster@louisearcherpta.org to request the URL for the tool and the username and password for your program/event.

      Program chairs should check the status of all participants no less than one week prior to the start of the program and email the Treasurer at treasurer@louisearcherpta.org if there are any unpaid registrations, along with the start date of the program. The program chair then must contact any unpaid registrants, letting them know that they must pay prior to the start date of the program. Any participant who has not paid by the first day of the program will not be able to return until payment is made in full. The program chair is responsible for letting the participating families know that the child cannot return until the program is paid in full. Write-offs are not permitted. The program chair must keep the Treasurer informed of any children who will not be participating due to non-payment of fees.

    8. Disbursement/Reimbursement: Disbursement/reimbursement forms are located at www.louisearcherpta.org under Forms. They detail the information and approvals necessary to process these transactions. Chairpersons cannot pay for expenses or reimbursements out of cash proceeds received from their event/program. Reimbursement requests must be made within 30 days of the end of the event or program.

    9. Donations to PTA: Since the PTA is a tax-exempt charitable 501(c)(3) organization, all donations (monetary or in-kind) greater than $250 must be acknowledged in writing and any quid pro quo donations greater than $75 will be acknowledged in writing upon request. Committee chairpersons must notify the PTA Treasurer to ensure that acknowledgements are properly made and contributions are properly recorded.

    10. Writing Checks: There will be dual unrelated signatures on all outgoing checks. The President, Vice President, and Treasurer will have signing authority. The payee may not be the signatory of any check.

  4. Communications:

    1. The Louise Archer PTA endeavors to provide weekly communications via email to parents and individuals that sign up to receive the communications. The weekly communication is called the Sunbeam. Parents and individuals may sign up on the Louise Archer PTA website to receive the Sunbeam. The Sunbeam generally is emailed to recipients each Tuesday during the school year.

      1. Sunbeam Processes: Information to be included in the Sunday Sunbeam is submitted via email to the Sunbeam editor. All items to be included must be received by the Sunbeam editor by the previous Thursday evening. The PTA President works with the Sunbeam editor to approve the layout and order of the information in the Sunbeam.

    2. Special Updates from the PTA generally are sent as needed during the school year, as necessary. The content of these updates is determined by the PTA President and is based on the PTA calendar and special needs of the PTA. These updates are titled Sunbursts. The Sunbeam editor works with the PTA President to create the Sunbursts. Request for Sunburst submissions should be sent to the Sunbeam editor and the PTA President.

    3. The PTA will communicate to parents and individuals about certain select items in paper form throughout the year. As the PTA is committed to a “green” approach to communication, the PTA strives to limit the number of paper communications to those considered of significant importance to the parents and membership.

    4. All PTA information is available on the Louise Archer PTA website located at louisearcherpta.org. The website webmaster maintains the website and ensures that information regarding the PTA is up-to-date and accurate on the website. The website is the vehicle for online purchases relating to the PTA. This includes donations, before and after school class enrollment, spirit wear, yearbooks purchase, school supply purchases, and other items. The webmaster works with the PTA President and Committee Chairpersons to insure that the website correctly links to any third party vendors and any billing entities.

  5. Standing Committees: The following committees are considered necessary every year for the successful operation of the Louise Archer PTA. The duties of the Standing Committee Chairs are as follows:

    1. Membership and Donations – Prepare PTA membership information for the first week of school. Manage the online collection of PTA dues and parent, teacher, and community donations. Distribute membership cards on Back-to-School Night. Keep membership and donation records. Provide an updated membership list to the PTA Secretary prior to each General Membership meeting. Work with Treasurer and PTA President to send dues and fees to National and Virginia PTA.

    2. Sunbeam / Website – Collect and edit school news for posting weekly on the Sunbeam email distribution. Webmaster – Maintain PTA website. This lists the PTA calendar, Board contacts and information regarding the various programs and fundraisers sponsored by the PTA.

    3. Volunteer Coordinator – Oversee all PTA and parent volunteer efforts by preparing and distributing volunteer information to parents, then compiling results of Volunteer Sign-up Sheet and providing names to appropriate chairpersons. At the end of the school year, compile Annual Volunteer Report, including total number of volunteers and hours by activity, for FCPS Volunteer Coordinator

    4. Building Use Coordinator – Work with Committee Chairpersons, Louise Archer Elementary Staff and Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) staff to procure space at Louise Archer Elementary for PTA Programs and Events. Ensure that Committee Chairpersons submit the necessary forms and follow the procedures to procure the space at LAES. Work with the LAES staff and the PTA Executive Board to resolve any building use issues if necessary.

    5. Audit Committee – 3-4 individuals work with the PTA Treasurer to review the PTA Financial Records at the end of the Fiscal Year (June 30), compile report, and present report at the September General Membership PTA Meeting.

  6. Volunteer Committees : The Louise Archer PTA has hundreds of volunteer opportunities. These fall into 3 categories: Extra Curricular Programs, PTA Events, PTA Programs/Committees. Full descriptions of each are listed on the PTA Website in the Volunteer Programs and Roles Handbook.

    1. Volunteer / Committee Chairperson Responsibilities:

      1. All Chairpersons must be a member of the PTA.

      2. Chairpersons must prepare deposits, keep a written record of all monetary transactions, maintain a copy of all transactions in the appropriate binder, and submit any requests for reimbursement or compensation to the PTA Treasurer within 30 days of the end of an event or program.

      3. Maintain a procedures notebook.

      4. Chairpersons must develop a budget for the program /event or adhere to the program/event budget determined during the annual budget process. Spending over the budgeted amount for a program/event should be avoided. Before spending exceeds the budgeted amount, the Chairperson should inform the PTA President and Treasurer and document reasons for the overspending.

      5. Provide an update on the program or event at the appropriate PTA General Membership meeting. If unable to attend the meeting, provide announcement about program or event updates to the PTA Secretary at least one week prior to the relevant PTA General Membership meeting.

      6. At the end of a program or event, update the procedures notebook with any lessons learned.

  7. PTA Assistance to Louise Archer Elementary School

    1. Azzarra Fund – The Azzarra Fund is a PTA funded program that provides assistance to students in need in honor of former LAES Principal Judith Azzarra. These funds may be used to provide items deemed necessary or beneficial for a LAES student that would not be able to afford them. These items can include school supply kits, field trip fees, class t-shirts, and extra-curricular activities. Students may receive the funds by being identified by the school counselors, the school administrators, or teachers or by petitioning for funds from the PTA. The Azzarra Fund pool is determined each year during the budget process. The pool amount is based on a review of past years’ expenditures. Donations made to the PTA that are designated specifically for the Azzara Fund are added to the Azzara Fund pool. The Azzarra Fund guidelines document provides specific details about administration of the funds.

    2. MiniGrants – The Louise Archer PTA Mini Grants program is designed to enhance the educational experiences of Louise Archer students and the teaching experience of the Louise Archer staff by awarding monetary grants that benefit as many students as possible. The grants are intended to be distributed across all grade levels and to supplement resources already available. The Mini Grants budget is set as part of the annual budgeting process. Teachers submit electronic proposals to the PTA President. The Mini Grants Committee reviews all of the submitted proposals and measures them against the Mini Grants budget to select the proposals that will receive Mini Grants. The following criteria is used: 1) will enhance the educational experience of a wide number of students, 2) relates to approved curriculum, 3) ideally, can be scaled across classes or grade levels.

    3. Field Trips – The PTA funds the bus transportation for Louise Archer elementary students’ field trips.

    4. Gifts from PTA to School- In the event that the PTA has excess funds and a need is identified at Louise Archer Elementary that could be funded by those funds, the PTA should present the need and the intention to fund the need to the General Membership for a vote of approval. Any need funded by a gift from the PTA should be detailed prior to the presentation of the gift/funds and should have all necessary documentation to support the need and its costs.