By-Laws
York Avenue Elementary Home and School Association
Article I-Name
The name of this Association shall be the York Avenue Elementary Home and School
Association (herein referred to as “the Association”).
The Association is a chapter of the North Penn School District Coordinating Council,
Inc., established pursuant to the Pennsylvania Non-Profit Corporation Law, Section 5511.
To the extent the provisions of this chapter’s by-laws conflict with the dissolution,
purpose, or financial reporting requirements set forth in Coordinating Council’s by-laws,
the provisions of the Coordinating Council by-laws shall prevail.
Article II-Objectives
The objectives of the Association shall be:
Section 1: To promote better education.
Section 2: To promote the welfare of children and youth in the home, school, and
community.
Section 3: To foster a close relationship between the home and the school so that parents
and teachers may cooperate intelligently in the education of the child.
Section 4: To develop between educators and the general public such understanding and
united efforts as will secure for every child the highest advantages.
Section 5: To raise funds to provide educational enrichment and other items deemed by
its members to be beneficial to the school and/or its students beyond those provided by
the North Penn School District.
Article III-Basic Policy
Section 1: The said organization is organized exclusively for charitable, educational, and
scientific purposes, including for such purposes, the making of distributions to
organization that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal
Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code.
No part of the net earnings of the organization shall inure to the benefit of, or be distributable to its
members, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the organization shall be authorized
and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and
distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in the purpose clause hereof. No substantial part
of the activities of the organization shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to
influence legislation, and the organization shall not participate in, or intervene in (including the
publishing or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public
office. Not withstanding any other provision of this document, the organization shall not carry on any
other activities not permitted to be carried on (a) by an organization exempt from federal income tax
under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal
tax code, or (b) by an organization, contributions to which are deductible under section 170(c)(2) of
the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code.
Upon the dissolution of the organization, assets shall be distributed for one or more exempt purposes
within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any
future federal tax code, or shall be distributed to the federal government, or to a state or local
government, for a public purpose. Any such assets not disposed of shall be disposed of by the Court
of Common Pleas of the county in which the principal office of the organization is then located,
exclusively for such purposes or to such organization or organizations, as said Court shall determine,
which are organized and operated exclusively for such purposes.
Section 2: The Association shall seek neither to direct the activities of the school
administration nor to control its policies.
Section 3: The Association shall carry out the objectives set forth in Article II and shall
be developed through activities such as conferences, committees, projects and programs.
Section 4: The Association may cooperate with other organizations and agencies active in
child welfare, such as conference groups or coordinating councils, providing its
representatives make no commitments that bind the group without its consent.
Section 5: In the event of dissolution of the Association, no part of the assets of the
Association will inure to the benefit of any member but will be distributed to
organizations described in section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Section 6: The Association shall not make commitment of support, financial or otherwise
to any institution exceeding the tenure of the Executive Board.
Section 7: The Association shall have a balanced budget with no less than $1,500.00
carried over from the prior fiscal year to the new fiscal year.
Section 8: The fiscal year shall begin July 1st and end June 30th.
Article IV-Membership
Section 1: Parents, faculty and staff members of York Avenue Elementary School are
eligible members of the Association.
Section 2: An annual activity fee of donations shall be conducted at the beginning of each
school year. Additional donations shall be accepted at any time.
Section 3: Membership shall run from the beginning of the calendar school year for one
school year while the student attends York Avenue.
Section 4: There shall be one vote per adult member. A member must be present at the
Association meeting to vote; there shall be no absentee voting.
Article V-Finance
Section 1: An annual budget of estimated income and expenses shall be prepared and
approved by the current Executive Board members in July of the incoming year.
Section 2: The approved budget shall be made public to all parents at the start of the
school year, and at the first Association meeting of the school year.
Section 3: The Executive Board shall have all accounts ready for a third-party review by
the end of the fiscal year or before they are passed on to the new treasurer in June of an
election year. Any fees for a third party review will be determined and included as a
budget expense.
Section 4: Changes in the budget must be approved by the Executive Board. Updated
budget reports shall be made available at Association meetings.
Section 5: Checks can only be signed after being made “Payable To” a certain party.
Two signatures are required on every check.
Article VI-Executive Board
Section 1: The Executive Board shall consist of a President or Co-Presidents, Vice
President or Co-Vice Presidents, Secretary or Co-Secretaries, and Treasurer or CoTreasures.
Section 2: Officers shall be elected at the last scheduled Association meeting prior to the
end of the school year.
Section 3: Each elected officer shall serve a term of two years beginning at the
conclusion of the last Association meeting of the school year running through the
conclusion of the second school year with the exception of the Treasurer, whose term will
coincide with the fiscal year.
Section 4: No Executive Board member shall be eligible for the same position for more
than two consecutive terms unless there are no volunteers to fill the position.
Section 5: If a vacancy occurs in the office of the President, the Vice-President shall
assume the duties of the President for the balance of the term. If the Vice-President is
unable to accept the position of President, the Executive Board will appoint a president
from the existing Executive Board. The Executive Board will then appoint that vacant
position.
Section 6: All other vacancies on the Executive Board shall be filled by appointment and
approval by quorum vote at a general meeting for the balance of the term of any such
vacancies.
Section 7: A special meeting of the Executive Board may be called by any of the
members of the Executive Board.
Section 8: The guidelines of the Executive Board shall be:
A. To transact business between Association meetings. The Executive Board
shall meet to plan the agenda for the Association meeting.
B. To assign an Executive Board member to function as a liaison to each
standing/special committee chairperson. Liaisons are responsible to support
the committee chairpersons, keep informed of committee actions and
intentions and to give reports at Executive Board meetings, if needed.
Liaisons are also responsible to monitor expenses of the committees and to
ensure that these expenses are reasonable. In the situation of an activity or
event, the liaison will be in attendance to support the committee chairperson
in any manner necessary. If the liaison is not available to attend, another
Executive Board member will be designated to assume this role.
C. To ensure that there are Chairpersons of all Standing and Special Committees.
D. In an election year, to begin their responsibilities at the conclusion of the last
Association meeting of the school year.
E. In an election year, to relinquish all records to the incoming Executive Board
members after the last scheduled Association meeting with the exception of
the Treasurer. The treasurer will relinquish all responsibilities as stated in
Article V, Section 3.
F. To set the time and date of Association meetings for the fiscal year.
G. To complete the calendar for the following year.
H. To prepare an annual budget of estimated income and expenses for the
upcoming year.
Section 9: No Executive Board member shall chair a committee unless no one else can be
found to volunteer.
Section 10: Shadow positions will open the year before an election year. A shadow is an
opportunity for a member to observe during Executive Board Meetings.
Article VII-Officers and their Duties
Section 1: The term of office for all Executive Board members shall be two years with
the exception of parents of sixth grade students, who may serve on the Executive Board
for one year.
Section 2: The guidelines for the officers:
A. President/Co-Presidents
1. Preside at Association meetings.
2. Conducts Executive Board meetings.
3. Prepares agendas for Executive Board and Association meetings.
4. Maintains contact with executive board members to ensure that events run
smoothly.
5. Prepares calendar of events for upcoming year.
6. Approves correspondences and event flyers intended for distribution to
families on behalf of the York Avenue Elementary Home and School
Association.
7. Serves as a primary liaison with North Penn School District
Administrators.
8. Receives, compiles and sends out e-mail communication on behalf of
York Avenue’s Home and School Association.
9. In an election year, notifies the the school community by public posting
via email for upcoming vacancies on the Executive Board.
B. Vice-President/Co-Vice-Presidents
1. Acts as an aide to the President/Co-Presidents.
2. Performs the duties as delegated by the President/Co-Presidents.
3. Performs the duties of the President/Co-Presidents in that officer’s
absence.
4. Maintains file of committee folders, including a completed Committee
Summary Report at the end of a chaired event.
5. Compiles contact information of volunteers to be distributed to
chairpersons and/or other volunteers for any Home and School special
event or social and/or fund raising activities.
6. Maintains an accurate, updated list of all committees and chairpersons.
7. Maintains list of accepted nominations from the nominating committee,
during an election year.
8. Retrieves Home and School mail from the York Avenue School office and
distribute to appropriate people on a weekly basis.
C. Secretary/Co-Secretaries
1. Prepares and maintains sign in attendance sheets at all Association
meetings.
2. Records minutes of all Association meetings.
3. Provides the Presidents/Co-Presidents with a copy of the minutes for
modification and approval. After approved, forwards a copy to Bulletin
Board Chair for posting. Approved minutes should be made public to
families within 14 days of the meeting.
4. Maintains file of all documents distributed at Association meetings
including, but not restricted to, the minutes of the prior month’s meetings,
the current agenda, the current treasurer’s report and budget and any
miscellaneous handouts.
5. Maintains a copy of the Association’s by-laws.
6. Creates thank you notes for committee chairs to distribute to volunteers
and for liaisons to distribute to committee chairs.
7. Maintains and updates the Welcome Back to School packet and Volunteer
Opportunity packet at the beginning of the year.
8. Maintains and updates York Avenue’s Home and School Website.
D. Treasurer/Co-Treasurers
1. Receive all monies of the Association.
2. Keep an accurate record of all receipts, bank accounts and expenditures.
3. Pay out funds with the approved budget.
4. Pay out non-budgeted expenditures as approved by the Executive Board
and in accordance with the by-laws.
5. Present a Treasurer’s report at every Association meeting and whenever
requested by the Executive Board.
6. Prepare bi-yearly reports as required by chapter membership of North
Penn Coordinating Council.
7. Prepare a year to date report to present at the last scheduled Association
meeting.
8. Prepare and present the budget at the annual budget meeting.
9. Have all checks co-signed by the President or another Executive Board
member with signing power.
10. Remove monies and deposit forms from Association’s drop box safe in a
timely manner.
11. Provide a cash box when necessary for a committee or special event. Two
other members of the Executive Board must count and sign off on the
amount of the cash box after an event before the Treasurer may accept the
cash box for deposit.
Article VIII-Association Meetings
Section 1: General Association meetings shall be held bi-monthly from September
through June unless otherwise indicated by the Executive Board.
Section 2: Each adult member of the Association in attendance at an Association meeting
represents one vote. The Executive Board, with the exception of the President is eligible
to vote. The President will cast the deciding vote in the event of a tie. If there are CoPresidents, the Co-Presidents will alternate voting power, each taking one year of their
two-year term.
Section 3: When 10 or more members of the Association are present, there shall be a
quorum. In the event a quorum has not been attained, the Executive Board has the
discretion to table the vote.
Section 4: When a quorum has been attained, a simple majority of those present and
voting in the affirmative constitutes passage of a motion.
Section 5: Unless otherwise specified, Robert’s Rules of Order shall govern the
proceedings of the meeting.
Article IX- Standing/Special Committees
A. Guidelines
Section 1: Any standing or special committee may be chaired by one or more
chairpersons.
Section 2: The chairperson(s) shall be a member of the Home and School Association.
Section 3: The Executive Board committee liaison will provide the chairperson with a
folder of information which, at least will include a current volunteer list, money
reimbursement forms, a Committee Summary Report, and the information from previous
years.
Section 4: The liaison will ensure that any required forms have been submitted and
approved prior to the event. These forms include North Penn School District Use of
Facility forms, York Avenue Elementary Request for Use of School Grounds/Facilities
forms, and/or North Penn School District Approval Form-Solicitation and Sales.
Section 5: The chairperson will be informed of the committee’s budget. There is a
budget assigned to each committee not expected to earn a profit. This budget will be set
at an amount appropriate to the customary expenses of the committee. A committee must
make a request for additional funds. The Executive Board can approve or deny any
request for additional funds at their discretion.
Section 6: The chairperson and liaison shall present a plan of action to the Executive
Board for approval of special events. Special Events are social and/or fundraising
activities, which may vary from year to year. The plan should include schedules,
facilities required, volunteers required, expenses, cost to participants, planned
entertainment/activities, and planned refreshments. The Executive Board reserves the
right to cancel any special event due to lack of sufficient participation or volunteers
to support the event.
Section 7: The chairperson shall keep an organized file of all the information related to
the committee. The chairperson shall return to their liaison the committee file including
the current year’s forms, documentation, and a completed “Committee Summary Report”
at the end of the chaired event.
Section 8: The chairperson shall attend Association meetings and be prepared to give a
brief committee report or contact their liaison prior to the meeting and provide the
required information.
Section 9: The chairperson needs the approval of the President or Co-Presidents before a
flyer is sent to the Principal for approval and distribution.
Section 10: All publicity and related written information intended for distribution to the
Association of families of the school must have approval of the President or CoPresidents. When someone submits information to be published it must not substantially
change without the knowledge of the author.
B. List of Standing Committees, including but not limited to the following:
1. Assembly Chairperson: This person is responsible for researching and selecting a
variety of assemblies that would be interesting and appropriate for students in
Kindergarten through 6th grades. The assembly process begins in spring of the
prior school year and typically finalized by late summer/early fall. The total
monies spent on all the assemblies must fall within the Association budget
amount. The chairperson must secure the dates with the presenters and York
Avenue staff, sign and return all contracts, and arrange for deposits. There are
typically 3-4 Association arranged and funded assemblies per school year. A
representative must be available to greet presenter, make final payments, and
view assembly for evaluation. A W-9 must be sent to each presenter that has a
fee of over $600. All signing and agreeing on contracts must have approval of the
Executive Board.
2. Box Tops: This chairperson is responsible for notifying parents of the Box Tops
for education program, to organize the collection of box tops at the school and to
ensure that the box tops are compiled and submitted to the sponsoring company.
3. Bulletin Board: This chairperson is responsible for maintaining and updating the
Association bulletin boards in the school. Updates include flyers for upcoming
events, Association agendas and budget reports.
4. Coordinating Council: There shall be a representative to act as a liaison from
York Avenue Elementary School. This representative shall attend monthly
Coordinating Council meetings and report at the Association meetings.
5. Directory: The home and school secretary will compile the collected
information into the York Avenue Elementary School Directory.
6. Homeroom Helper Chairperson/Homeroom Helpers: This chairperson will be
responsible for requesting volunteers, and then assigning and communicating
responsibilities to all Homeroom Helpers. Homeroom Helpers are responsible for
communicating with the classroom teacher to organize special activities, to
celebrate holidays or other events as directed by the teacher, and to assist the
Association with other class related projects. The chairperson will assign one
volunteer as Homeroom Helper for each classroom according to need. A parent
will not be eligible to be a helper for the same child in consecutive years, unless
there are no other volunteers. If there are multiple parents eligible for one
classroom, the selection will take place at a Homeroom Helper meeting.
7. Nominating Committee: This committee shall consist of two to four Association
members, chosen by the Executive Board, to reach out and secure nominees for
the Executive Board positions being vacated. These committee members may
include up to two current Executive Board members who are not running for
office again in any position. The nominating committee shall secure verbal
acceptance of nominations and pass these names onto the current Executive
Board. The current Recording Secretary will keep these nominations until such
time as the election occurs.
8. School Pictures: There shall be two volunteers to help keep the classes in order
and the photos moving during the course of the day. All signing and agreeing on
contracts must have approval of the Executive Board.
9. Sixth Grade Event: This committee of sixth grade parents is responsible for
planning and executing the off-site Sixth Grade Event/Party. The committee shall
organize and execute all fundraisers needed to support the event. All money
raised for the event shall be held by the home and school treasurer. All flyers and
fundraiser need to be approved by board. Detailed budget will be submitted to
board.
10. Website: This chairperson is responsible for updating and posting information on
the Home and School section of York Avenue Elementary School’s web page.
11. Yearbook: This chairperson is responsible for forming a committee to create a
student yearbook, which chronicles the school year in pictures. This involves
taking pictures of students at school and at events sponsored by the Association.
This committee works with a company to publish the yearbook, then sells, and
distributes yearbooks when they are available from the publisher. All signing and
agreeing on contracts must have the approval of the Executive Board.
12. Book Bugs: This committee will work with staff to coordinate the book bug
process, including but not limited to editing students’ books, typing books, and
binding them. They will also help coordinate a Book Bug event (example author’s tea).
13. Family Events: Chairpersons for each family event are responsible for the
planning and executing of their event. They will create a sign up for volunteers,
make a flyer (which must be approved by the Executive Board and the principal),
plan the event, and execute the event with the help of their volunteers.
14. Iron Knights: All contacts and information to go through Mr. Theodore.
Article X-Nomination and Election of Officers
Section 1: Shadows shall be eligible before public notification to take any open position
on the Executive Board.
Section 2: Advertising of Executive Board offices will be published via e-mail during
the months of February and March of election year. Candidates should notify the
Nominating Committee of interest in accepting a nomination.
Section 3: Nominations will be accepted anytime prior to the last scheduled Association
meeting of the election year.
Section 4: If there is only one nominee for an office, the nominee will be elected by a
unanimous vote.
Section 5: If there is more than one nominee for an office, the election will be held by
secret ballot. In this case, an announcement shall be sent out to all Association members
at least one week prior to the election with a brief note from each nominee detailing their
intent and qualifications. The election will take place at the last scheduled Association
meeting.
Section 6: If the secret ballot is utilized, the votes will be tallied within 24 hours of the
election. The committee will post the results with 3 days. A communication will be sent
to all parents within 10 days notifying them of the result of the election.
Section 6: Newly elected officers shall assume their offices at the end of the last
Association meeting, with the exception of the Treasurer, who will assume the office at
the end of the fiscal year.
Article XI-Amendments and By-laws Revisions
Section 1: The By-laws may be amended at any Association meeting by a two-thirds
majority vote of members present, only if a quorum exists.
Section 2: Written notice of any proposed change(s) must be presented at the Association
meeting.
Section 3: The Executive Board will review the by-laws every two years. Proposed
revisions shall be distributed by email. Discussion of any proposed revisions, additions
or changes shall occur at the second to last scheduled Association meeting. The revisions
will be voted upon at the last scheduled Association meeting.
Updated By-laws: December 28, 2015
Adoption of By-laws: January Home and School Meeting 2016
Lesley Brey
Co-President
Chassity Ruby
Co-President
December 28, 2015
Table of Contents
Article I
Article II
Article III
Name
Objectives
Basic Policy
page 1
page 1
page 1-2
Article IV
Article V
Article VI
Article VII
Article VIII
Article IX
Article X
Article XI
Membership
Finance
Executive Board
Officers and their Duties
Association Meetings
Standing/Special Committees
Nomination and Election of Officers
Amendments and By-laws Revisions
page 3
page 3
page 3-4
page 5-6
page 6-7
page 7-10
page 10
page 11