Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to be the only person concerned that the PTA treasurer seems to have gone missing....

583 replies

PTAmissing · 16/05/2016 07:06

With all the PTA money?

She's been treasurer for years, no children at the school anymore.

She usually attends roughly 1 of every 4 meetings. She hasn't been to one for 6 months. She won't answer the phone or the door, doesn't reply to emails or texts. Chair went to her house and she didn't answer the door although it looked like she was in. We have no access to the money or accounts and the school is lending us money to get back off her at some indeterminate time in the future.

We have the school fate soon and she has all the info on stalls etc not to mention the money we need to buy things! She owes one of the parents about £50 for things they bought from their company for the PTA xmas fate.

Nobody else seems concerned! I really got angry about it at the last meeting and said this is ridiculous, we have no idea how much is in the account, we can't get hold of her, we have no working float. Apparently she has family drama at the moment and thats why she's unavailable but she still wants to be treasurer. I raised the possibility that there could be something dodgy going on and got shut down by the chair who said its not possible as there are two signatories on the account (because she couldn't just forge a signature???)

AIBU to think they should be taking this a bit more seriously given there is over £7000 (at the last count) of money that has been donated by the parents fgs, not to just sit in an account that nobody can get into?!

OP posts:
Gazelda · 24/05/2016 20:45

She knows she's in shit, and is now wanting to share the load. You'll end up (at best) being part of a clear up. PTA member Always have a thankless task, but to involve yourself in this (other than bringing it to the appropriate authority's attention) will make you appear to be part of the cock up and subsequent cover up. If I were you, I'd stand by your resignation but make sure the chair knows you are bringing the whole sorry mess to the attention of the Head and Chair of Governors. While they are not responsible for the PTA, they have been linked through their loan.

You may want to be part of a new PTA, tasked with a fresh broom approach. But it would be best if none of the past committee were involved going forward.

cozietoesie · 24/05/2016 20:50

It's looking like the Augean Stables now right enough, but I'm concerned, for the sake of the pupils and parents of the school that some semblance of apparent order should be maintained where it has to be.

I'm not sure how it could be achieved, though.

Bolograph · 24/05/2016 20:55

I think the Chair knows something needs to be done but is desperate not to be the bad guy

As with every PTA saga on MN ever (lemon drizzle cake, the one in which the PTA chair called the head a lesbian, others) the basic problem is that the committee can't decide if it's a bunch of friends who run the PTA while also have nice evenings out, or the actual governance of an organisation with assets of ten grand and a turnover over approaching that. It's OK being the former until something goes wrong (the treasurer become a recluse, the chair calls the head a lesbian) at which point it needs to be the latter but can't, because everyone is too emotionally entangled.

clam · 24/05/2016 20:58

Looks to me as if the shit is about to hit the fan, and I'd stand well clear if I were you, or else you're going to be covered in it too.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 24/05/2016 20:59

I asked why she had said she had spoken to her and she said she meant to say concerned mum had spoken with her!

Yeah, right Hmm Given that most people can remember what they've actually done, I think the conclusion to draw from that is sadly obvious

OP please say you're not going to this meeting, even as an "ordinary" parent who's not on the PTA now? I've got a horrible feeling they want you back in order to share the blame around a bit further ...

fraggle84 · 24/05/2016 20:59

I think you should go on Friday

Bolograph · 24/05/2016 21:00

Oh, and I had forgotten this killer point from the OP: "and the school is lending us money to get back off her at some indeterminate time in the future."

That really, really isn't going to end well. The head has to be told, in words of one syllable. Who approved that loan? The head? The governors? How much is it: loose change, or thousands? Who signed for it on the PTA side? The committee? The chair? Who?

Sunnymeg · 24/05/2016 21:01

Totally agree that the chair wants you to be at the meeting to stop all the fingers being pointed at her. Chair needs to contact insurance company for advice on how to proceed and then inform meeting of what has been done. Agree with previous poster, people like to float about and look important, but don't want to carry out the actual job.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 24/05/2016 21:10

Good grief, somehow I missed that the actual school have loaned the PTA money, to be reclaimed from the Treasurer Shock

I realize it's a bit late for this now, but they must have been out of their minds - was this after the Treasurer went AWOL?

lifesalongsong · 24/05/2016 21:12

What a complete mess, I'm not normally one to assume the worst but this seems to be going from bad to worse.

If you're still happy to be on the PTA I thin you are in a very strong position, I'd say I wouldn't even consider going back unless you see the most recent bank statement and that the treasurer is replaced immediately. It might be difficult to start with to change the signatories on the account but it will be worth it. Does anyone know if the account can be accessed online? That would be a concern for me given the circumstances.

I don't understand how someone can be so completely uncontactable, does she never answer her phone, that doesn't make sense to me and would be a red falg

Bolograph · 24/05/2016 21:17

I wouldn't even consider going back unless you see the most recent bank statement

And a statement of how much money the PTA owes the school. A formal statement, as in "payment of this amount extinguishes all debt", not some fag packet estimate. The PTA needs a set of accounts, pronto, because it has liabilities as well as assets, and those accounts might be difficult to assemble.

If the treasurer won't play ball nicely, it could all turn very ugly. If she's been a long-term fixture there's not going to be much to go on to figure out the financial position historically other than records she controls. Talk of bank statement is missing the point when the main transactions will be cash-in, cash-out, and cheques. Forensic accountants don't come cheap...

ineedamoreadultieradult · 24/05/2016 21:19

Don't get drawn into the fall out. You tried to help they didn't want your help and have lied and made bad decisions. I would stay out of it now.

cozietoesie · 24/05/2016 21:28

It's not always so easy to do that though, ineed. People go into these things because they want to help the school, children, other parents etc and those could be the same motivations that make them want to get things sorted out.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 24/05/2016 21:30

I hate to mention this, but having resigned, has anyone considered how it could be made to look if OP attends the meeting on Friday?

If the whatsit really has hit the fan it's worth remembering that those responsible don't always keep their heads, and given the downright lies already flying around, what's to stop someone implying that OP had no choice but to attend, with all that could entail? Hmm

You at least have been honest, OP; now I'd keep the hell out of it

Optimist1 · 24/05/2016 21:34

This is an opportunity for you to formally make your concerns known, OP. I think you should go to Friday's meeting and make sure everyone is entirely in the picture. Perhaps you can prepare a list of facts in advance? Your measured approach on this thread should serve you well. You can then judge whether you want to continue in post or draw a line under your years of PTA service.

cozietoesie · 24/05/2016 21:34

I suspect there might be a call for a whole new PTA committee fairly soon. That would be the OP's time.

dowhatnow · 24/05/2016 21:37

Yes but if she doesn't attend then she could be implicated and she's not there to defend herself. I think I'd rather go so I know what's being said and that more lies aren't being spread. She can set the record straight with what concerns were raised and when. She has email proof that she's been asked to attend so I wouldn't worry about that.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 24/05/2016 21:39

You did absolutely the right thing in trying to get this addressed and then resigning when it became clear that nothing constructive was happening. If I were you, I'd back away as fast as I could. This is a mess and you're best off out of it. Please don't go to the meeting and definitely don't withdraw your resignation.

cozietoesie · 24/05/2016 21:42

Do you not think that the next meeting is less likely to be productive than to be the forum for lots of recriminations and headless chicken behaviour though, do? Would it not be better to stay out of the arena at this point?

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 24/05/2016 21:45

OP, despite the fact that I would love for you to report back on the meeting, I really don't think you should go (although can you get concerned mum to report back in detail?)

From what you have said on this thread, if necessary you have an email trail that shows you brought up your concerns on more than one occasion. You have resigned, so you no-longer have any psrt in this, I reccomend you keep it that way ...

ChampagneCommunist · 24/05/2016 21:47

I think the money is long gone

Puzzledandpissedoff · 24/05/2016 21:56

Yes but if she doesn't attend then she could be implicated and she's not there to defend herself

I take your point, but if they're guilty, folk can be inclined to smear others whether they're present or not. Granted OP would get to hear what's said at the meeting, but she'd never know what else might have happened on the quiet

Sometimes the only thing to do is play it absolutely by the book ...

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 24/05/2016 21:58

Implicated in what? She's not the treasurer or the Chair or the Head. She's just a committee member who's tried to raise a concern, not someone with specific responsibility for overseeing the PTA's finances who's fallen down on the job. I agree that the meeting is likely to be very unpleasant and not very productive.

clam · 24/05/2016 22:04

This is a complete shambles. How on earth did a situation arise where the Treasurer began to refuse to speak to the Chair? I can't think of any viable reason why the Treasurer has gone no contact about these funds, apart from the obvious. The easiest thing would be for her to pass over access to it straightaway. The fat that she hasn't/won't is very worrying.

The HT must be informed of all this asap.

Bolograph · 24/05/2016 22:06

She's just a committee member who's tried to raise a concern

She's a committee member of an organisation which, while she was a committee member, borrowed money it may not be able to repay. Resigning doesn't rewrite the past.