PTO Today

O my, I don't even know what to think about alcohol being allowed on school grounds for ANY event, much less a PTO meeting. I'm hoping that's not even true. Yes, adults are free to drink all they want as far as I'm concerned, but I'm satisfied most people would highly object to it being done on school grounds. Can you imagine the fallout if someone had something to drink at a school and on their way home they had an accident and killed somebody. That is scary to me. You know that school would be sued so fast they wouldn't know what hit them. Also, I would think board policy would state that not only guns and drugs, but also ALCOHAL aren't allowed on school grounds. If not, how could they enforce any discipline if a student brought it to school, and I know kids try that sometimes and as far as I know, any student I've ever heard of, no matter where they go to school, gets suspended for that. Whew, and I worry about somebody just getting hurt at a fall carnival doing the cake walk or playing in the blow up gym. haha

O well, still, I feel that this principal should not being using PTO funds for a steak/shrimp/salmon + $200 worth of alcohol dinner for 25 people at her home. I hope the situation is calmly worked out for tk2mom.

Wowweee! This post sure has generated a wide variety of responses! hmmmm, no need to say sorry. We can disagree. You make some valid points.

I guess this really goes to show that there isn't one right answer for every parent group. It's truly very important for each group and it's leaders to know the community it's serving. Whether your community is rich or poor, liberal or conservative, flexible or rigid, or the millions of possibilities in between, the key is understanding your role in the community and serving to the best of your abilities.

I personally have no issue with the party, including the cost and the alcohol, but if tk2mom thinks it was at all inappropriate then she and her fellow PTO leaders should have a polite, respectful chat with the principal and work toward making sure it doesn't happen again.

Well, here is what is have come up with. We even had someone get some free advise from a respected lawyer --- alcohol is NOT appropriate and should never be covered by a PTO no other facts around that. If something bad would happen and it was a PTO sponsered event, that could only end very badly. So that brings us down to $400 --- we are going to offer to split the difference and pay her $200. We are really all about making our teachers happy, we love our teachers, however we provide several meals and treats and items thru the year. We never tell them no. However, we are a small community, and a $600 expense is huge, and way over the limit of anything we ever take on. We would have been happy to cover a luncheon at school for all staff and teachers to enjoy, however that is not what happened. We are covering half of her expenses, for our mistake on not getting all the information up front. We are putting very specific guidelines in place that our money could be used for. With help from our district office. If it got out to our general membership that these receipts came in, it would not look good for our principal. So we are respecting her enough to keep this with us and go this route. We know she is going to be very very upset, however we are the voice of the PTO and speaking for our membership and the community that supports our fundraisers and hopefully she will not take it personally.
Thank you everyone!

Quick question: have you guys discussed with her as adults first... before going in guns-ablazin' with all kinds of new rules and dictates?

I don't mean to sound harsh, but I'd think that would be the first step. Sounds like no one has yet stopped by her office and nicely/professionally said: "Wanted to talk to you about the faculty party. From what we've heard, it wasn't what we were used to/expecting. It sounds like a really nice event, but some of our leaders and members aren't comfortable with parts of it. Can we discuss a bit?"

And then discuss. Isn't that step one?

Tim

I think in this time and age where some parents may be loosing their jobs and struggling to survive a party of this magnitude in a small district is irresponsible and inappropriate.
Who takes the responsibility of any person having a accident while driving home with that much alcohol at an event? ($200 per 25 people)

I would refuse to pay for the alcohol but contribute for the food. I would make certain she has written guide lines to move forward.

Tim's right, so I hope you are planning to have a fair conversation with her. I understand your feelings - truly I do. But it sounds like she asked you if it could be used for a party and you said "yes" - giving her no guidelines or restrictions. So now you plan to penalize her retroactively.

How was she supposed to know how the previous principal used the funds? Was it ever discussed? It sounds like there's room for improvement on the communication side. Personally, I would have lobbied for the PTO paying the $400 for the non-alcohol portion.

Regardless of what does/doesn't get paid for by the PTO, this has the potential to really damage your working relationship if handled badly.