According to the Maryland PTA Council Handbook last revised on August 30, 2006:
What is a Council? A council is a group of local PTA units organized under the authority of the Maryland PTA for the purpose of promoting the welfare of children and youth. (pg. 6)
Scope of Work of Council a. Inform, instruct and inspire local units and be responsive to their needs.
b. Unify PTA activities in a community or school district with the consent of a majority of the units.
c. Provide a way for local units to act together on projects that a single PTA could not accomplish alone.
d. Undertake council projects only after a majority of the local units vote to support them.
e. Each unit makes its own decisions about joining in a council project. Dissenting units may decide to go along with the majority or simply refrain from participation. Once the local units have adopted a project, the council is responsible for its completion. (page. 7)
Authority The council shall not do the following: a. Dictate to local PTAs;
b. Legislate for the local PTAs, including taking action involving member PTAs and should not be setting up the rules for them without their consent.
c. Duplicate the work or program of the local PTAs;
d. Compete with local PTAs;
e. Compel local PTAs to enter into council projects; or
f. Assess local PTAs for funds without their consent. (page.7)
Why was CPGCPTA's Charter Revoked?
That is the question Maryland PTA (MDPTA) has refused to answer when asked by previous board members on numerous occasions.
Feeling they are an organization that is above the law, they acted as they pleased. The set of document links posted to this site provide insight on the efforts made by the previous board of directors to save the charter.
There has not been any mismanagement or misappropriation of funds as supported in the Audits performed by MDPTA on behalf of the 2003-2005 Board of Directors and a certified public accountant for 2005-2007 Board of Directors 2005-2006 Audit and Annual Report. The Board of Directors were unable to complete the 2006-2007 Audit because MDPTA confiscated the books.
I encourage you to take the time; read the documents to learn the truth about MDPTA's goal to remove Councils from its organizational structure and discredit Councils as their justification for making this change.
You also have the the right to request these same documents from MDPTA under the Public Information Act (PIA). Listed below is an exert from the PIA Manual. A nonprofit entity incorporated under the State’s general corporation law may also be considered a unit or instrumentality of a political subdivision for purposes of the PIA, if there is a sufficient nexus linking the entity to the local government. See Andy’s Ice Cream, Inc. v. City of Salisbury, 125 Md. App. 125, 724 A.2d 717, cert. denied, 353 Md. 473, 727 A.2d 382 (1999) (Salisbury Zoo Commission subject to PIA, given the Mayor and City Council’s role in the appointment of Commission members, authority over budget and bylaws, and power to dissolve Commission).
MDPTA Unlawful Practices
Maryland PTA (MDPTA) has knowingly operated in violation of Maryland law for at least two years now. According to the law, a non-profit organization's bylaws must be in conformity with the organization's articles of organization. In MDPTA's case their bylaws are in direct conflict with their Articles of Incorporation.
FOURTH Article Section 4.1 of MDPTA's Articles of Incorporation states a director may be removed from office by a two-thirds vote of the membership present at a regular scheduled meeting or a meeting called for such purpose.
This means delegates to the Council have the right to remove a member of the board of directors at any regular scheduled Council meeting or a meeting they call for that purpose as long as the affirmative vote is two-thirds of the membership present.
Local unit representatives to MDPTA have the right to remove a member of the board of directors at any regular scheduled meeting (to include the Fall Convention, Winter Boards, etc.) or a meeting called by the local representatives for that purpose. Again, the affirmative vote must be two-thirds of the membership present.
Maryland PTA is well aware that the Articles of Incorporation take precedent over bylaws. They were advised in 2006 that their bylaws were in conflict with their Articles of Incorporation, yet they continued to misinform Councils and local units that board members could only be voted off by 2/3 votes of the Board of Directors.
They have refused to make this mandatory change to their bylaws because they know they will then be accountable to their general membership. Their other option would be to change the Articles of Incorporation, but that would require that MDPTA involve the IRS.
At the Fall Convention, Maryland PTA presented this information as a bylaw amendment that could be voted up or down, when they should have presented it as a Mandated Bylaw Change. Some of you may remember that the Council and Local bylaws were updated in 2006. You may notice that the term Board of Directors now replaces Executive Board. This was done to bring PTA bylaws into compliance with their Articles of Incorporation, which states that The management of this Corporation shall be vested in a Board of Directors, the number of directors, qualifications, term of office, manner of election time and place of meetings, and powers and duties shall be prescribed by the bylaws of the Corporation. That change was never presented to the delegates as an amendment to vote up or down; it was just changed in the Bylaw template. The same should have occurred for voting out officers of the board of directors in all PTA units, including MDPTA.
Since Maryland PTA was aware of this conflict and concealed it from the general membership, in accordance with non-profit law, that represents fraud. The definition of Fraud according the Non-Profit Law Dictionary is: a false representation of a matter of fact, by word of conduct, by means of misleading statement or by concealment of some fact that should have been disclosed, which deceives another person (or person) and is intended to cause this deceit so that the other person acts on it to his, her or its legal injury.
MDPTA Does Not Want Councils
Not only has Maryland PTA committed fraud concerning the above mentioned, but also with what they are doing concerning the Councils. In August 2006, Maryland PTA issued an updated version of the Council Handbook. This handbook clearly states that the purpose of Council is start up new PTAs in accordance with Maryland PTA guidelines; it makes no mention of this Extension Chair Committee, which Mary Jo claims was created during the 2006 Winters Board and now responsible for starting new local units across the state. Since this changed was voted in in either December 2005 or January 2006, MDPTA had ample time to include this change in the updated Council Handbook that was reprinted in August 2006.
Additionally, Maryland PTA, Council and local bylaws clearly state that one purpose of Councils is to start new local unit. It clearly states that Councils are the first point of contact for school that want to start a new unit.
By leaving this information in circulation for the Councils to act on and then concealing the training and recruitment efforts from Council Presidents and local units about the Extension Chair Committee is an act of Fraud. A number of faithful PTA advocates from Prince George's County sit on or work with this Extension Chair Committee. Whether they truly understand the implications, I cannot judge.
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