Rock Hill schools consider ending ban on employees leading PTO, booster groups

A controversial ban enacted two years ago by the Rock Hill school board on district employees serving as officers in booster clubs and PTOs could be removed.

Many high school booster clubs and PTO organizations in Rock Hill schools fought the policy when it was approved by the school board in 2014, saying it would hurt their leadership.

Board member Helena Miller led a move to revise the policy, saying employees should be able to serve in booster club and PTO officer roles as long as they don’t handle money.

“Many of our employees are also parents in the district,” said Miller, who noted the district employs almost 2,500 people. “I don’t believe we have the right to restrict their participation level as parents in schools.”

Butch Bailey, a member of the Northwestern High School band booster club, believes the existing policy is wrong. Bailey and other high school booster members opposed the ban when it was enacted.

He said the policy has hurt the Trojan band booster group.

“It had a negative effect,” Bailey said. “We had some parents that were district employees that were not allowed to serve in the functions that they were in line to serve. That eliminated a good asset to the booster club.”

Jim Vining, school board chairman, said the board enacted the policy because its auditor recommended that employees should not handle money for school support groups.

He said having employees in that role could be a liability for the district if there were a controversy about the group’s handling of money. He said many officers need to handle money.

However, Vining said he now believes the policy is too restrictive.

In a split vote, the board gave initial approval Tuesday to a revised policy that would allow employees to serve as officers in school support groups as long as they don’t handle money.

Board members Miller, Vining, Terry Hutchinson and Jane Sharp voted in favor of the policy change; Mildred Douglas, Walter Brown and Ann Reid voted against it.

A second vote is required before the decision is final.

Under the proposed policy, district employees would be banned only from serving as treasurer for school support groups and could hold other offices as long as they “do not have signature authority on checks.”

Deputy Superintendent Tony Cox told the board the administration supported the change as long as employees were not directly involved in handling money.

Alfreda Franklin, a Lesslie Elementary School nurse with two children in Rock Hill schools, supports the change. Franklin said she is involved in the PTO and would be willing to be an officer.

“I think they are missing out on a lot of talent by not allowing staff to be officers,” Franklin said. “There’s a lot of participation among parents who are employees.”

Douglas said she opposed the policy change because “we want our parents to step up and take on those leadership roles.” She said needing teachers to serve in officer roles is an added burden.

Brown said employees who take on officer roles in school support groups would have to be careful with every action that they don’t violate South Carolina ethics standards.

“Because of the danger it puts on our employees, I am not going to support it,” he said, referring to ethics standards.

Brown agreed that parents who don’t work for schools should step up.

“We’ve got schools with 500 or 600 students, and we can’t get four people to hold office in the support organization without asking our employees to do it?” Brown said.

Sharp supported the change, saying it would be up to employees if they want to take on those roles. She did not want “to deny them the right, should they want it.”

Miller said she checked with several other school districts and found none had a policy as restrictive as Rock Hill’s. “As long as you don’t handle money, I don’t think we should be more restrictive than that,” she said.

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Rock Hill schools consider ending ban on employees leading PTO, booster groups."