To avoid PTA raffle

Just found this thread whilst googling for other ways to do a PTA raffle as it is back breaking work at the end of a long day.

What you have said is outrageous and as an active PTA member I’d be horrified if any schools near us did this. Certainly doesn’t happen at ours- we do it in public - our head just won two prizes which is fine she spent a lot on that raffle. None of my committee won a single thing! Luck of draw but I do like it when my committee and helpers get something as they put hours of extra work in and never get to do the other Fayre stuff as stuck on a stall.

I have just been looking for online raffle platforms that do the draw for you ( can’t find one yet) but if we do this in future I’ll be doing it in public and announcing winners at same time!

@SheinIsShite the caretaker counts as staff so if you needed a neutral witness to the raffle draw then the caretaker would count.

When we ran PTA events the head would sometimes pop in but wouldn't be there for the whole event. Scotland, so governors are not a thing. When we booked the let with the Council they would arrange for the person we'd call the janny and English people would call the caretaker to be there during the event and to lock up after.

My child’s school is too much of a dive/shithole area to even have a PTA. Too many parents are banned from the grounds for fighting. We have no school events here. It would be carnage.

I miss this kind of shit from when I had my first kid in a middle class area. I LOVED all the PTA drama, bitchiness and in fighting. PTA mums are fucking batshit - I was one of them. best fucking years of my life getting pissed up on gin and doing the tombola at the Christmas fairs.

Who locks up the school after the event has finished?

This sounds totally insane. Our raffles are always drawn in public and we are careful not to put our own names in. I have been on the pta for 9 years now and spent endless hours helping at the school and actually felt guilty when (1) my daughter won an art contest and her drawing was on the front of our cookbook. It was anonymous and voted on by the teachers so literally no bias and (2) sometimes I let my kids look at the used books at the fair a few minutes before we opened because otherwise they’d miss out altogether as I was always running something. I clearly lack the ability for high stakes crime lol

Sorry but your daughter witnessed this and was upset, yet you are doing nothing? What kind of message does that send to her?

You are very wrong and complicit in keeping quiet.

I think there is something to do with GDPR that prevents them from publishing a list of winners without their consent - like the lottery has to get consent to do publicity for winners and they have right to remain anonymous.

This is not only immoral and theft but they are encouraging their own children to be dishonest and greedy. I can see the moral dilemma given how close you are to these women but jeez, you can’t let them get away with it. They’re behaving appallingly. And any governors colluding with this are breaching the Nolan principles.

I'll let them get away with it then

In which case you're complicit.

I'm genuinely curious as to why you posted if you're not actually going to do anything about it. It honestly sounds like you're writing a short story or something with the way you're aware it's not acceptable but instead of doing the right thing you would just condone fraud so casually.

Our raffles were always drawn in public.

I remember once helping at a bottle stall and a local doctor was in charge. He purposely kept the winning ticket for the star prize in his pocket then put it in the mix halfway through the event so that we'd sell more tickets.

Just go and chat with the head, and ask that draws are made DURING the event , in front of everyone else, and problem solved. Or just start discussing it around, and people will naturally make the change when everybody agrees.

nd so no one ever really notices that the raffles just sort of disappear.
really? that sounds very unlikely.

Every school raffle event I've ever seen brings a dozen of "who won, did I win, what about the raffle, who got the prizes" from some parents. Even when the prize draw was very public but they happened to miss it

What's the point of starting this thread then if you are not going to do anything to change it?

Many of us with PTA experience can absolutely relate to the same handful of people organising all the events and doing all the grunt work to make it happen, without a word of thanks and lots of complaints from parents who never lifted a finger but always knew how to do things better. But we managed to put on events with a shoestring budget and the bare minimum helpers, AND STILL BE HONEST ABOUT IT!!

The law about raffles is simple. If you sell tickets in advance for a draw held later (and that would include when everyone has gone home) you need a licence. If you only sell tickets for a draw which takes place later during the same event, you don't. Fixing a raffle in the way described isn't a dodgy raffle, it's taking money under false pretences.

I think you should rock the boat, OP. It might be an uncomfortable thing to do but it is the right thing - as long as you are certain about what happened.

Please report this.
Encouraging children to do something illegal.
Awful.

Illegal. The Raffle’s governed by the Gaming Commission. Not just a bit shit but illegal

The only time I organised a raffle I made sure the draw was done in a public place, drawn by someone neutral, my immediate family didn't have tickets and anyone who wanted could be there.

Snap!

Time for an audit methinks.

Being 'hardworking' does not give them a licence to steal.

Your friends are thieves, pure and simple and you know it.

I helped to run the PTA at my DC's school for years, and we were nothing other than completely transparent.

If they're happy to steal the prizes, I'd be very interested in seeing how transparent they are with the money raised from each event and who looks after the figures.

If they are doing this so brazenly I would wonder what else they are doing? Would be interesting to see their accounts!

Cool story, bro.

Welcome to MN.

Wow. Makes me wonder what else they are being corrupt with.