PTOs or booster clubs often operate as sanctioned school entities. However, they are usually separate parties from the school administration. They occupy unique spaces within an educational institution.
Still, PTO leaders often have a degree of pull over the direction of the organization and the school itself. Should they make mistakes, they could cost a lot of people a lot of money. And should a liability suit result, directors might face personal challenges. If you are a PTO director, what can you do to combat these claims?
Most PTO organizers can benefit from a special type of liability insurance. This is Directors & Officers coverage. It's there to help you in the event problems develop because of your actions.
How D&O Insurance Works
The actions an organization director takes might have bad consequences for the operation. You don't want problems to happen. But sometimes, they do. If the wrong choices result in problems for clients or other groups, they might hold the organization responsible. However, these parties might also hold the directors personally responsible.
Should a personal claim or lawsuit result from the client's allegations, the named party might need extra help. A general Errors & Omissions policy might not go far enough to protect the director individually. In such cases, a Directors & Officers insurance policy might step in.
D&O insurance covers directors and/or board members named in suits stemming from their mistakes. It can also extend protection to their personal assets, and even their spouses. It provides a more personal degree of protection for those in decision-making positions.
Coverage For PTO Directors
As a PTO director, you can likely see the benefits of D&O coverage.
Your decisions have a lot of influence over the direction of the organization. As a result, they will impact other parents, students and the school. In the event of mismanagement, problems might cause significant setbacks for multiple parties.
Let's say you lose thousands of organization dollars through improperly-tracked disbursements. Rather than netting a profit, the organization loses money. You have no way to track or recover the money. It is not wrong to assume that those affected might hold you responsible for these losses. They might even expect you to compensate the organization and other effected individuals.
In these cases, D&O insurance can come in handy. It might help PTO organizers protect themselves in their management capacity. So, they won't necessarily have to suffer significant losses as a result. This allows for more security to be able to do your job with confidence.
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