I would address the principal, the superintendant,B.O.E. and the executive board (all in one special meeting)and show everything you have found. I would make copies of everything. I would let them make a decision to pursue charges or let it go. That's a lot of money to be imbezzeled.

If the group decides not to pursue this, then please try not to stress over this. Just continue to make your new group the best that it can be and take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. You can amend your by-laws to have it say what your group will do in case of imbezzelement.
Require 2 signatures on all checks and withdrawls. Some groups require 3 signatures.

Good luck and let us know the outcome.

[ 05-14-2006, 02:16 PM: Message edited by: Renee S ]

I've been obsessing and stewing over a PTO issue that took place 2 years ago. At that time, I was a K parent, new to our PTO group, and we had an exec Board that had been in office (changing positions around) for many many years. A husband and wife team were President and Treasurer. Well, somehow we ended up 18K in debt at the end of the school year and there was some fishy business about where all of the money went.

No one wanted to take responsibility for what happened and no one wanted to help the parents. Many teachers convinced a new group of parents to run for office to beat this "old" group, and the new group won. I joined the "new" group as a committee chair and through careful budgeting and cutbacks, we got out of debt and are doing fine. I am now the President-elect for the PTO group for the upcoming year.

What I am stewing about is that nothing has ever been done to find out what happened to this "missing money." A group of parents went to the principal to ask for help, and she said she would take care of it. They also consulted the district PT Council, the BOE, the superintendent, the newspaper, the city dept. of business affairs, and even the police, but everyone wanted to wash their hands of it. It is true that the husband/wife team were a little nuts and wrote threatening emails and letters after some disparaging newspaper articles appeared about them, but I can't imagine that the city was scared of them. Is it possible that there just wasn't enough evidence to do something?

As President-elect, I have been reviewing old volunteer folders and budget documents to get ready for my term and I have found more "evidence" that shows things may have been fishy, such as a credit card in the former President's name, paid for by the PTO, a cell phone bill paid by the PTO, tips to PTO members, etc.

Since we're doing fine, should I let this go and get over it? It has been a great lesson for other PTO groups to get checks and balances in their groups, but it bugs me that these people never had any consequences for their actions.