Originally posted by Serendipity:
I would express these concerns to both the President & the Principal. I would do everything in my power to get these two people to do their jobs they way they should and get the financial records out in the open.

I totally agree. You need to point out this problem and have them disclose the financial information.

Since it is a Catholic school, if the president and principal don't listen, or don't seem concerned, go see the Pastor or the Administrator of the church.

[ 09-01-2004, 03:57 PM: Message edited by: HockeyMomto2 ]

I would express these concerns to both the President & the Principal. I would do everything in my power to get these two people to do their jobs they way they should and get the financial records out in the open.

If your Prez and Principal are not willing to do anything and do not correct this situation, then I would resign.

While it is true if you leave they will be left to their own devices...but if the Prez & Principal do not correct this situation they will be left to their own devices anyway. That is one ship I would not sail with. Because when the you know what hits the fan I would not want to be attached to them in any way, shape, or form.

Plus if it comes to resigning I would be very honest with people as to why I quit. That may get other people concerned about this matter.

Look at the blog on this website and print out all the stories about PTO/PTA groups that have had embezzlement problems. No one ever thinks it is going to happen to them, but there are too many stories to ignore.

As Metzy suggested, buying insurance is a good thing. And the terms of the fidelity bond coverage you need will most likely require that you put some internal controls in to prevent a loss.

Where does your principal fall into this picture? What about your Diocesan or Archdiocesan Federation of HSAs? Support from either of them could get you pretty far in straightening out what's going on.

Lack of trust can really be a killer in an HSA, and it's sad that you can't trust the people you work with. But have they given you reason not to trust their motivations for HSA involvement?

I could go on and on about how if you resign the veep and the rest will have a free reign, but instead I will say this:
Tell the group on Thursday that you would like to join NPN so that the board will be able to purchase insurance to cover their butts (read between the lines... cover your butt).
As for the legal aspects, you need advice from someone more versed in the legalities than I am.

Good Luck!

I am in need of some help from all of you, this is my first year in the HSA as the secretary, this is our first year since the early 90's that the HSA is back on track for the school, however, at our first rummage sale the v-president invited her friends over and let them buy many,many items for about 5 dollars ( keep in mind that each item was 1 dollar) so the HSA president decided to let it slip for now since it was our first event together, I found out yesterday that the money that we made from the sale was given to the bookeeper of the school to deposit into the HSA account, she did not give a receipt to the president for that money, so I was very upset about that ( our treasurer does not even care about her position , she was not even present during the sale or takes care of the funds, that is another problem, the treasurer, v-president are good friends) when the president asked the bookeeper for current bank statements and/or deposit slips she said NO, she would give us a spreadsheet only, what is that??? we are getting accredited this year so I am worried that the fact that I am an officer this year, that they are not following the bylaws, and that money is being given and passed around will get me in trouble, I have seriously thought about resigning because it is not right and I refuse to look the other way . What should I do ? we will have a meeting this Thursday and I will speak up about this whole mess to the school principal. we are a private, small ( 125 kids) poor Catholic school , so the fact that money is low for many in the school including the v-president worries me A LOT!!!I am mainly in charge of getting donations(monetary) from individuals that do not mind giving away lots of cash , so , what do I do? I was hoping that with monetary donations we would have access to the bank account and we should get bank statements to keep track of what we are bringing in . What do you guys think of this, what should I do? HELP!!!