On the flip side, the PTO has a fudiciary responsibility regarding financial discrepancies. The board has given the woman numerous opportunities to come clean quietly, but those chances were flat-out rejected. Information like this WILL get out and the PTO better be able to show "clean hands" and a record of having followed through on their duty to the school and the parents lest they be viewed as complicit in the theft.

I like what the the last post said.... Actually, playing devil's advocate for a moment, I can side with the principal; not defending the 'thief', but in wanting it swept under the rug so to speak. To me, it's hard to say what the right thing actually is in this situation. How many students are going to suffer once this story gets out? How is this person's child going to get treated? How is the entire school going to look to the community? Are people still going to be willing to participate in fund raisers? It may be more of a detriment to the kids to inhibit future fund raising then to get justice on some crazy mom..... I know you're seeking to do the right thing, but if your school is at all like ours, you need PTO and those fundraisers badly. Why would you want to let this woman jeopardize that for everyone? I feel for you; I hope that you can find a way to get her to step down without making a commotion. Best of luck to you.

I know this may rub you the wrong way Mom21, but, I think you are overstepping your bounds. No one in town needs to know ANYTHING about the issue at hand, you are single handedly ruining the next fundraiser for your school. Why would you continue to let this snowball through town, parents and now the local and state police? I wonder what your motive is? What in your background gives you the authority to do this?

I trust the state police more. Our local authorities are somewhat of a joke, sad to say. I actually had a detective call this morning. The officer handling the investigation will be calling me in a day or so I was told. So we'll see. His word will be the final word.

I reread what I wrote originally and I need to clarify that we did count the money before she left with it. Normally the caterer also adds all the receipt copies in the book and verifies that with the money total for the night to be sure they correspond but the treasurer would not wait for that ... but the money itself was counted. The receipts weren't added that night but have since been added and correspond with our total we added the night of the fundraiser. There are definitely missing funds, the only issue is where they are.

Will keep you posted. Thanks everyone!

Just curious, but why involve the state police? Is it not the jurisidiction of local authorities.

I don't think any of us are advocating that the missing funds be swept under the rug and that it doesn't matter. We're merely concerned there is no firm evidence with which to move forward. Yes - money is missing, but unless it was counted before she left, how can anyone prove if the funds went missing before or after they were taken from the event? Please keep us posted. We do want to hear what happens.

Hi everyone ~

Thanks so much for weighing in.

Yes, everyone who counted money is ready to sign and testify if needed. That said, I am not saying we HAVE to prosecute someone to satisfy this. Do I think the treasurer simply took the money and used it ... I don't think so, but ... But do I think she was careless keeping it in her home for 4 days and numerous other things, yes ... I do.

Do we think we could prove the $17,000 ... yes, we think we could. We have tally sheets to prove the majority of it, except for a couple of the raffles. The only thing we didn't count and verify ourselves (myself and the caterer) were some raffles but those were verified by the persons working the particular raffles. And, I honestly feel that since the treasurer gave us those numbers herself for the raffle totals that she is liable for that amount of money. And she wouldn't take the time to count the money that night. She was very belligerent all day, sad to say. She didn't even want to allow us to count it at the end of the night, she just wanted to take it home.

Do I think the police can prove anything ... I'm not sure. If they can we definitely need to know. If they can't ... is there harm done? I don't mean to sound naive ... but if we can clear the treasurer, our group and the repuration of our fundraiser isn't that a good thing?!

I am disappointed in her character. Personally, my checkbook is open if the police want to see it. If the treasurer truly has nothing to hide I would rather see her say, "How can I help? What do we do next?" and she isn't saying anything like that. Just pointing fingers of who else could be at blame.

There is a gal in our town who was involved in some money missing a few years ago from another organization in town but it was swept under the rug. Sad to admit but every time I see that mom I have thoughts of that. So if we call the police to investigate and they find no evidence of a crime (or cannot prove one) ... is that a bad thing? Doesn't that help the reputation of everyone involved?

I believe this is way too much money to sweep under the rug.

I certainly don't mean to turn anyone off from volunteering by talking about calling the police; however, that $1300 was given for the students. That mom/treasurer does volunteer her time ... but so does everyone else, including myself. As president I can promise you I put a whole lot more time into this fundraiser than everyone else combined, except for the caterer of course. Treasurer is rude to the previous treasurer and refused to ask questions and seek guidance despite the fact that the previous treasurer was there all day helping us set up, but she has no problem pointing out to everyone that it is my fault she didn't know what to do ... despite the fact that the caterer tried to give her guidance which she blatantly ignored right in front of us all. I am the president, I don't have time to hold hands and coddle. If you have a job on the board it is your responsibility to either know what to do or find out what to do. Are we not adults?

I am confident the only reason the superintendent and principal are looking out for this gal is that she is on the school board. And as far as the caterer, they just figure that they'll make less next year. Hello?! If/when word gets out in town the fundraiser is ruined if we don't do something. People will not donate and people will not come and spend. It is going to be personal to them, the money missing is the money they spent or from the item they donated.

I appreciate everyone's support. I called the State Police today and the detective is on vacation so I left a message and asked him to call me when he gets back. I guess if I don't talk to him I'll never know. Even if we don't have legal grounds maybe he can help us out with something to put this to rest. I don't know. But I have to have this cleared up or my conscience will not bear it. How do I teach my child that you always do the honest thing, even when it is difficult ... if I am not willing to do that myself. So I guess that is where it is at for now ... until the detective returns from vacation.

Thanks for your thoughts and encouragement!