Committee

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Constitution

1. Name

SPRINGFIELD CONVENT PARENT-TEACHERS ASSOCIATION

hereinafter called "the Association"

2.Object

To do all things worthwhile and desirable for the benefit of the school without interfering in any way with the general control or teaching policy or intervening in, or receiving any grievances of pupils. The Association shall in the furtherance of its main object:

• promote and foster open communication and co-operation among staff, students, parents and the School's Administration Board;
• Review the resources of the school and where these can in any way be improved upon do all in its power to promote and assist such improvement, this assistance includes the raising of the necessary funds which may be required by the Board and / or the Principals in the provision / acquisition of facilities required by the school and / or the defraying of any expenditure considered to be for the benefit, directly or indirectly of the pupils.
• Maintain close harmony with the Board in accordance with its own constitution and the constitution of the Board. The Association shall at regular intervals liaise with the Board to discuss the needs of the school and to establish priorities in fundraising and expenditure.

3. Membership

Membership of the Association shall be on an annual basis and shall be open to:

• all parents and guardians of pupils registered at the school and as well as the Sisters and lay-staff.
• at the discretion of the Committee, any other person who applies for membership of the Association.

4. Management

• The management of the Association shall be vested in a committee comprising:

1. A chairperson
2. A vice chairperson
3. An administrative secretary
4. A treasurer
5. Six ordinary members
6. The Mother Prioress or her nominee
7. The two principals
8.  Four members of teaching staff nominated by the principals

• Only persons who are members of the Association are eligible for appointment to the Committee.
• Five elected members of the Committee shall hold office for two consecutive years, the remaining five until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting. All retiring members shall be eligible for re-election.
• The Committee at its last meeting before the Annual General Meeting shall elect the five members who are to remain for their second consecutive year.
• A quorum at a committee meeting shall comprise 9 persons.
• Decisions of the Committee shall be taken by majority vote, the Chairperson shall have a casting vote as well as a deliberative vote.
• Any elected Committee member absenting themself from three consecutive Committee meetings without leave from the Committee, shall cease forthwith to be a member of the Committee and shall be advised thereof in writing. Further, a member may at any time resign, by written notice to that effect, to the Committee.
• Any vacancy on the Committee shall be filed at the next general meeting but the Committee shall have the power to co-opt a member to fill the vacancy, which tenure of office shall be for the remaining duration of that Committee year until an election is held at the next Annual General Meeting.

5. Powers Of The Committee

• To manage the business of the Association in terms of this Constitution.
• To appoint sub-committees when necessary and to delegate to them such power as may be desirable.
• To co-opt additional members if required.
• To decide when and where meetings of the Association are to be held and to make all the necessary arrangements.

6. Finances

• All monies shall be handled by the Treasurer, or delegated to the Administrative Secretary, and all payments shall be made by authorisation of the Committee.
• The Committee shall be empowered to:

1. invest any funds of the Association in such a manner as it may in its discretion decide and, from time to time, alter and vary investments.
2. borrow monies and secure fulfilment of any contracts or engagements entered into by the Committee in such a manner as the Committee may deem fit.
3. institute, conduct, defend and abandon any legal proceeding by and against the Association or its officers or otherwise concerning the affairs of the Association.
4. open banking accounts in the name of the Association to draw, accept, endorse, make and execute bills of exchange, cheques, promissory notes, and other negotiable instruments connected with the business of the Association.

Such bills of exchange, cheques, promissory notes and other negotiable instruments comprising withdrawals shall be signed and / or authorised by any two of the following members of the Committee:

• Chairperson
• The Mother Prioress
• Senior School Principal
• Treasurer
• Administrative Secretary

In matters of expenditure, apart from running costs, the Association shall not be entitled to approve such where the cost of any one item is in excess of the amount laid down by the regional Dominican Chapter for the Board or by the Board for the Association. For such expenditure, approval of the Board and / or of the Regional Vicar and Council are required.

7. Indemnity

The resources of the Association shall be liable for the debts of the Association and the members shall not be personally liable for such debts or any portion thereof.

8. Meetings

• The Annual General Meeting shall be held during the first two months of the school year. At least fourteen days written notice of this meeting shall be given to all members.
• Special general meetings may be called whenever the Committee deems it desirable, and / or by either of the principals and / or by parents representing at least 15% of members of the Association, such representation must be formally recorded.

Fourteen days written notice must be given to members. Such notice to contain full details of the reason for calling such a special meeting.

• Voting: Unless otherwise provided for in this constitution, all members present at any meeting shall be entitled to one vote each and decisions shall be taken by majority vote, the Chairperson shall have a casting vote as well as a deliberative vote.
• Quorum : Unless otherwise stated a quorum at any meeting shall constitute 50 members of the Association other than the Mother Prioress, principals or teaching staff who may attend.
• General meetings of the Committee are to be held as in paragraph 5.4 of this constitution.
• No Annual General or Special meetings may be held during a school holiday period.
• The minutes of meetings shall be recorded and made available to the Administrative Board, principals, members and teaching / lay staff.

9. Amendments To The Constitution

Any amendment to this constitution shall be passed by a seventy five per cent majority of the members present at the Annual General Meeting or a special meeting called for that purpose.

10. Dissolution

The Association may be dissolved at a special meeting called for such purpose by a majority of seventy five per cent of the members present.

If upon dissolution of the Association there remains after satisfactory settlement of all its debts and liabilities, the assets of the Association shall be given and / or transferred to the Dominican Sisters to be used at their discretion in any manner that they and the Regional Council may deem fit.

11. Interpretation

Should the meaning of anything in this Constitution be in dispute, the ruling of the Committee in consultation with Regional Council shall be final.

Fund Raising

All fund raising of any sort takes place at Springfield only with the permission of the PTA Committee member responsible for fund raising.

All raffles, lucky-draws, functions etc must be approved by the Committee.

This is to make sure that all such efforts are co-ordinated and do not interfere with other existing fund-raising efforts that might be taking place already.

Building Committee

The Springfield Building Committee is, in fact, a sub-committee that is responsible to the School's main board and not the PTA Committee.

The Chair of the PTA Committee sits on the building committee and the main board.

All building plans and proposals have to be be submitted to the main board which has a formal process in place for approving such plans.

Final approval has to be granted by the Dominican Sisters in terms of the School's Constitution.

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