PTO Today

Mom21

I just wanted to say good for you and shame on those who said to just leave it be.

In November of 2008 our PTA Pres and VP were arrested after it was discovered that they were embezzling funds. It was blasted in the papers and notes were sent home to every family in the district. In February of 2009 (after previous PTA was disbanded) a group of us stepped in and formed the new executive board. We recently discovered that the prosecutor thus far has traced over $65,000 in missing monies.

How could this have gone on for so long and no one known? The principal was in on it too and has since been forced to resign. It has been extremely difficult regaining the trust back from the parents, staff, and the community even though we are an all new board, but we were able to do it.

You hang tough and stick through it. Good for you for doing what was right. I hope you guys had insurance so there's a possibility you may be able to recoup some of that money.

Money being taken or lost by members of the school PTO seems to be a growing trend and I agree 1000% with everyone who says you have to stand up for what is right . We also had the same trouble at our school last year
On our end of the year fiels trip the PTO President lost 1000.00 cash money . She tols us she had put it in her back pocket went to the rest room came out and it was gone. Yet she to acted like it was no big deal.

If anyone of the pto members ,officers ,teacher ,principal ,or myself would have demanded to do things right in the first place this may not have happened . Last year was my first year on the pto as VP and even though I was new I was pretty sure things were being done wrong. The pto president kept the books at her house and she took care of all the money . When I ask why she was doing it she said that the treasurer worked night shif and it was easier to do it that way (even though we had 2 co treasurers ). Then I was ask if I would let my name be put on the school check book ,my reply was no due to the fact of I didn't know everyone well enough to sign off on checks for them ,I didn't feel we needed 4 people on the checking account and that the check book was not kept locked up at the school .

Later in the year one of the co treasures ask for her name to be remove and I was ask agian and said no do the principal was put on it . I knew if the girl wanted off the checking account something must be wrong . So I asked and was told it was a person issue . Come to fined out later the president was signing the other girls names to the checks but not the principal or co treasurer let the rest of the pto know . Then once the 1000 was lost on the field trip them it came out that the president had taken cash money outside at the school carnival stated it was school money to her husband and had him put it in his pocket yet all the rest of the money was at the school ( the money she took outside was from the booth her sister in law was running ). She was seen taking rafle money and trashing tickets. Yet no one was stepping up and telling about it at the time .

When the money was lost on the trip I went to the school the next day talked to the principal demanded the board of ed be called and all money, bank books and records be removed from the president at once . Not because I thought she had stole anything I never seen her take any money with my own two eyes but yes was told of it later and let me add so no one thinks she is a theif or that I am calling her one I still only consider what people said as hear say and gossip and will till their is proof beyond the shadow of a doubt that a person a theif. But I wanted everything turned over for her sake and that of the school . She handed the books and stuff over with no hard feelings . I see it as if you have done no wrong then you wont have any trouble with having things looked at . Our books were given to the board of ed , all the propper reporsts filed .

Once the board was done with its investagation the books went to the CPA and we are waiting on her report . I know itis going to be bad because she has already called me over several items that do not add up .Once agian I am not calling anyone a theif it may have just been sloppy handling or the books .

Once agian back to my main point , if people would have questioned our methods at a meeting this may not have happened , if the normal regular rules would have been followed (like the treasurer who was on the trip keeping the money ), or paying for the trip in advance would have been done no cash atleast not 1000 would have been lost we never even voted she could take 1000 from the bank account . Instead we gave her full controll ask no questions and now we have to deal with what is at hand .


Of course parents are mad , rumors a flying and pto member numbers are down . The parents all know the board of ed just wrote it off as lost/stolen , the police never called one person to ask any questions and now everyone knows the hear say and gossip of other missing money .

So I can see why a few people want to keep things like that hush hush but when you make poor choices you have to pay the price . I would rather see pto menberships down for one year because we did the right thing than see it getting out 6 months later and have no pto at all .

Let me also say no charges were pressed, nothing was found that was criminal and no she was not bonded and we had no insurance . Parents and some pto members me included feel that on the lowest level she was careless and needs to pay the money back . Under other circumstances a person would be made to pay it back and like I said no one even voted she could take that much out . I ask why she took the money and she said to pay for the kids dinner on the trip ,I ask why so much we only have 60 some kids ,I would never have approved more than 10 per kid and let her take out 100 extra for emergency money .


Like I said before it dosen't matter if she lost it or truely did take it in the end we let her do it by not doing our jobs . Any member or officer should be able to question the treasurers report at any time and if you think something might be wrong I encourage you to . I would rather have a few casual friends mad at me than live with being mad at myself for what I didn't do .

Best of luck to all who have to deal with issues like this .

Mom21 -- Update? Did the trial take place on 9/28th as planned?

To mom21, I too, want to know what happened at the trial, I hope that she was found guilty and is punished for what she did! Either way, you did the right thing.

Hi everyone ~ Thank you so much for your support. I haven't signed in here in quite a while, just too difficult and trying to move on. I am in awe of how many of you are still following the situation ... thank you.

We did go to trial 9/28. Her lawyer was such a jerk and the prosecutor really dropped the ball on a few important pieces of evidence, like the former treasurer calling the cateter asking for $1323 in cash to cover the credit card receipts. (The cateter's business allows us to run credit cards through her business and she even absorbs the processing costs and pays us face value for the purchase) ... which is almost to the dollar of what is missing! And she called and asked her for cash in that amount. And that didn't come out at trial, although it did come out in the preliminary hearing. Very frustrating. Needless to say she was found not guilty. It was pretty devastating. After two days at court I could hardly put two words together to speak for days afterwards. Worst thing is that I am taking college classes and I had a paper due so I had to put my big girl panties on and get back to my life or I'd have failed my class. (Got an A in the class!! Woo hoo! She can't take that from me!) It was sad, I watched her get on the stand and lie through her teeth about things that I did and the caterer did. She even said we left the money on the table and walked away because we were mad at her. That didn't happen!! We would never walk away with the money sitting there. And there are probably 6 people there while we counted the money but everyone had already been released by the court as had I and I was in the courtroom, so they couldn't/didn't recall anyone to dispute that. But she got up there and 'cried and lied'. You could tell she was lying because she would look at the celing or at the floor when she answered. When I answered the questions I looked squarely at the jury! But for some reason there wasn't enough evidence. To add insult to injury her lawyer called me and the cateter 'shoddy women' in the press so for days our faces were rubbed in the mud. I expected the 'justice has been served' foolishness but was very disappointed that he felt he had to resort to name-calling. But there are issues with the school board now and this gal is up for recall. They were actually at my in-laws last night collecting signatures. We send our son there out of district, so we can't vote in the school board issues ... but I fully expect she'll be recalled. I believe she deserves to be. She abused her position on the school board to bully us through the process. The absolute only peace I have as far as the verdict is that her lawyer bill is probably at least $10,000 so when you look at the $1300 we believe she took, she's still in the hole. But people the courtroom were shocked that she got away with it. And from what I hear the people in the community really feel she 'got away with it', that she isn't truly not guilty ... just that the prosecutor didn't prove something enough.

Do I regret my decision? Not for a minute! My bottom line is that I am a mom and I can still tell my son that you always have to do the honest thing, even when it might be hard ... and he knows I have practiced what I preach. I was sick with a bad cold and didn't go to the first meeting after the verdict but the principal and former treasurer showed up in all their glory and tried to take over the annual fundraiser which was approaching. They stated that I should be asked to resign because I called the police. THe new president told them that she had had no one say that if I was involved in the fundraiser they wouldn't participate; however, she had had numerous comments that if the former treasurer was involved they would not participate. Needless to say they were mad. They decided to continue wanting to control the fundraiser auction so I told the president I wouldn't be involved, my husband was concerned that with me as the treasurere they would try to make trouble for me with money so I turned in a letter of resingation. The fundraiser made $10,000 less than we made last year even though at the last minute the former treasurer decided to not show. It didn't matter, the damage was done as the community knew she was involved and she had planned to be there. After the fundraiser the president called and asked me to not resign and I had other calls from community members to not resign. So I guess I'm not going to. And the president had told the board members but had not presented it to the general membership yet so she simply gave me back my letter. We didn't have a November meeting because the school was closed down that week due to the swine flu, so we'll have our annual budget meeting Dec 1 and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to walk in with my head held high, not looking for a fight, but not walsking away in shame either. If the president and board support my decision to do the honest thing I can handle these other people who aren't honest. Sad thing is we lost the caterer for this year's fundraiser and that hurt the fundraiser overall. They sold 100 fewer tickets and had a lot fewer donors. I didn't personally go, since I was planning to resign at the time ... but I hope the principal will see the error of her ways in getting in the middle of the mess and bad-mouthing such a prominent and respected businesswoman in our community as this caterer is. Who knows. But I have a clear conscience. I know I didn't lie. I know everything I told the prosecutor, judge and the jury was the honest truth to the best of my knowledge. The former treasurer totally bombed a polygraph (they told her if she could pass they'd drop the charges) and I know if I would have been offered one I would have passed it. The truth is a powerful thing. Sad that the prosecutor wasn't better prepared, but it is what it is and it is over. We had the people there to say how much money they counted and we had the deposit that she made that was $1300 less ... but the defense threw so much mud up in the air and the prosecutor didn't have appropriate rebuttal for it, and she could have! If she had only asked us ahead of time who could back up what we said about the processes at the end of the night, that it has always been done this way and this treasurer wouldn't cooperate and to refute that we weren't organized. It is an auction night with 250 women ... and they are shopping! Yes it is busy ... but we have enough people who work it every year and it is organized and everyone knows what their job is ... but the defense threw enough mud in the air and something obviously stuck that the jury couldn't make peace with. And! They didn't even pull her bank records ... in spite of the fact that she told us she made a 'large' deposit to her daycare on the same day as the PTA deposit and she basically dared us to make something out of it ... and I told the police that and the prosecutor that but they didn't pull her records. They said they had no way to prove where the money came from but to me it seems that if she made a $1000 deposit on Wednesday but you pull her daycare records for the previous week and it showed $200 or $300 ... you could definitely ask her where that money came from and put doubt in the jury's mind about her honestly?! But, like I said ... it is what it is ... and it is over so I'm trying to put it behind me and move on. I know I did the right thing. Thank you all for your support and for caring about the outcome. I wish I had better news to share with you, but that's how life goes sometimes I guess. I'm still teaching my son that you always tell the truth. I encourage you all to do the same.