to think the school is taking the P

[parakeet]

It has emerged that through a massive cock-up, our primary school has wasted a stack of money (let's say between £10,000 and £20,000) on some useless equipment. I don't want to give more details in case it identifies me but this is unrecoverable.

A few parents have become aware of this, but most not. The school appears to be trying to keep quiet about it. You might say well why is it any of the parent's business, but we are a small Church school, which asks for a yearly "voluntary contribution" from the parents, and the PTA does a lot of fundraising too.

The headteacher is now trying get PTA funds directed towards replacing the useless equipment - while still keeping quiet about the reasons. I'm wary of rocking the boat but I feel why should we work our arses off running school fetes etc to raise money for the school under these circumstances?

At the very least I'd like to see communication from the school about how the money came to be wasted and what measures they have put in place to make sure it doesn't happen again. (Presumably someone took a financial decision without fully researching the consequences.) I'd love to hear from knowledgeable people about whether the school has some sort of legal obligation to keep us informed?

It wasn't an IWB was it? The first one bought for my classroom was entirely unfit for purpose and had to be scrapped to the tune of several thousand.

it sounds like it is something like interactive whiteboards - perhaps your school cannot be wired for their use or its a listed building and they can't be wall mounted? Whatever it is - don;t assume that because they are common they just be seen as good by teachers - as you said - only desks, chairs and books are REALLY necessary when you get right down to it. Anything you can get for selling them would be worth having surely?

It does sound like an IWB, did the school get an RM or Promethian when it meant to get a SmartBoard for example? Or that the software the school has got doesn't run on the board.

They have a really bad resale value too.

yes I was thinking IWB.

It is useless because it is apparently imcompatible with some existing equipment, which it would be even more expensive to replace. I can't go into more detail, sorry.

gawd - what a nightmare for whoever put that order in!

OP
First you need to establish the facts - school playground assumptions almost always seem to lean to a negative rather than positive conclusion. Would endorse the approach suggested by Schoolgovernor.

There may have been a mistake by whoever selected the intems purchased, there may have been bad advice from a supplier - so possible recourse against supplier. Whatever the reason behind the 'wrong' purchase I am sure the decision maker(s) are also concerned and as a result may be defensive. There amy be some incompetence, it may be a mistake - we all try to avoid these so I do not imagine those involved set out to waste school money. If you want to get to the truth and have a sensible School/PTA discussion about the way forward you will need to acknowledge the decision maker(s) discomfort and, perhaps, consider how it might be avoided with future purchases. Are there parents with knowledge/skills that could be asked for input? Is there LA or Diocese support to refer to?

Of course if this is one of those occasions where there has been deliberate mismanagement or absolute financial incompetence then perhaps a change in Governors should be considered and perhaps you might consider standing for a Governor role.

The answer to this is so simple. The PTA (not Op) should contact the Head and ask what happened. Stop the rumour machine taking off. IF there's a problem and the PTA don't know what they should do next their Local Authority governor support team will be able to tell them.