PTA requesting payment for football boots that are ours.

[WineIsTheAnswer]

DD1 lost her boots just before Christmas. She asked at lost property, checked lockers, asked teachers, reception etc I also asked teacher and checked lost property. Unfortunately cleaning the mud off weekly had worn away the name on the outside and the sticker inside had almost completely come off (dark inside so the only way of marking them.) So I accepted they were gone, my mistake not re-labelling them.

The school has a history of coats etc going missing only to turn up on the back of others with the label cut out a week later. The school does nothing in these cases.

Now I find them on the PTA FB page as part of a large picture of stuff for the next sale. I messaged the PTA lady and asked to collect them or asked for them to be left at reception so I can get them back. She responds saying all lost property is given to them by school at the end of term, they were handed to them at Christmas so they are now PTA. I explain they must of been handed in on the last day as I had checked lost property in the morning. I also think it's unfair, if you forget something on the last day it's automatically PTA's on the first day of term but I haven't said that yet.

She asked for proof, I told her the size, about the faded name (now she knows the name, she should be able to still make it out) and sent the online order receipt. She's now offering to sell me them back ahead of the sale as a goodwill gesture. I've told her I expect them to be returned to school on Monday and if they aren't will presume the PTA has stolen them. I'm being told I'm BU, so am I?

I run the used uniform stall for the PTA I'd just give you the boots back straight away.
I go through the lost property every half term, return named items and post pictures of un-named items as well as issuing loads of messages about when we are planning on selling used uniform asking for donations and so people can check for lost items.
Also we don't charge more than two quid for anything, it's as much a service to help out families as it is to raise money.

The sensible solution would be for the school to move these donations from lost property to half termly with a half term gap in between so that the minimum period anything is lost for is half a term (plenty of time to find it). Then they can be passed on and sold. This is very grabby of them. Hope they see sense, or are made to by the school.

Oh this is giving me the rage. She is chancing her luck asking you for money, sounds like a cf power trip. I would not let this drop. She not only needs to hand back your property, but make an apology for this whole mess.

My son's school do this and it makes me want to punch someone in the face. They had a "sale" last Christmas of all the "lost property" and parents were just taking their kids clothes back and not paying. It was funny.

Definitely do not pay them. The shoes are your property.

I don't know what the law is in England and Wales but I used to work for a police establishment. If people left items behind after their stay, we would contact them and donate the items if they had been left unclaimed for a certain number of MONTHS. We then (ironically) found that the law stated that they had to be handed to the local police after this and we were in breach of this; a senior police officer had to be nominated as an agent of said police in order to keep in line with the law.

It would be interesting to see what lost property law actually says and how long the school has to hang on to things before they can sold. I know the police and transport companies will sell off unclaimed property but there is a statutory time before they can do this.

Regardless of the fact that they are your property, I can't believe the CF PTA woman is charging £10 for a pair of used boots!

Give them a cheque for £10.

Then cancel the cheque

Oh and yanbu. What a cheeky mare. Totally agree that as school know you've been asking they know your Dds boots were missing.
In future make sure any missing property is given in writing (email office) and ask them to keep an eye out.

It's no good saying 'but you'd already thought you'd lost them, so what's the problem?'. They have since been found. They are no longer lost and they belong to her. 'What's the problem?' is a question that be asked of those person at the PTA trying to withhold them.

I'd be mindful that it might not be the PTA at fault per se, merely the one individual. Either way, it's an easy issue to resolve, and the PTA person is the only obstacle to that resolution.

I like the cheque idea!
Tell them it must have got lost in the post and they can ask the post office lost property department for it. Then add 'the cheque was for 5.00 but the postman might expect 10.00 to give it back to you' ;-)

What a bitch!

FFS talk about a little bit of ‘power’ going to her head.

I’ll be interested to see what the Dep.Head says.

That aside, if something like football boots (ie not a jumper, football boots are a bit unusual) have been reported missing, how are they making it as far as the PTA? Processes need sorting.

The amount you have given to them in fundraising is neither here nor there.

Those boots are your property.

You don’t need to go to the bother of writing and cancelling a cheque. Don’t complicate things and put yourself in a position. Just ask if she can confirm that she is refusing to return your rightful property.

I bet you get those boots back without any further problem.

The head of the PTA at my sons primary was like this.

It put so many people off helping the PTA. She caused huge amounts of ill will by being extremely overbearing and also inflexible.

The (lovely) Head Teacher had to intervene over many issues similar to this, taking up her time that could have been far more productive spent on the school rather than petty one upmanship and power play.

I'd email the Head and ask that the boots be returned. You actively tried to retrieve them and have given sufficient proof they are yours.

Raising £10 for the PTA doesn't justify wilfully refusing to return someone's property.

I'm surprised the school allow this, every school I've ever worked in has bemoaned the length of time you have to store lost property.

The one I'm in most often despairs because they have a unform bank who come in frequently, but they can't give them the lost stuff because it's not theirs to give away,

Cheeky buggers! I'd tell them id shame them on Facebook too

YANBU

I think the person suggesting the cheque was just having fun.
It's right to laugh at the absurdity of this situation, otherwise you'd cry at the madness of it.

YANBU

I wouldn't pay.

I’m really cross for you OP. That is theft. If you get no joy from the deputy head, go to the head, then the chair of governors. Absolutely not acceptable.

Power crazed PTA lunatic.

And not the cheque idea, this person needs to get the message bloody clearly that it is completely unacceptable!

Have the PTA actually used the word “back” in any of their communications?
If she has, then they are admitting they acknowledge the boots as yours.
Call her bluff, tell her you’ve taken legal advice and as they have acknowledged the boots are yours now, it would be classed as theft if they don’t return them by close Of business the very next working day.

This is now making me remember all the crap like this the PTA (I I mentioned in my pp) used to come up with.

Maybe we should have a CF PTA thread

It's sad, though, especially when a lot of people on the PTA are genuinely helpful and do a lot of good work for schools and you get some grabby idiot who ruins it.

In my case the new PTA head declared (Alpha Mummy style) that she was going double the amount raised for the school. Obviously in a bid for glory and endless gratitude.

Que a landslide of ridiculous demands/suggestions for fundraising where you were held to ransom at the school gate Lord of the Rings Style "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" until you'd acquiesced.

Leaving the school drop off unscathed involved plans of stealth and cunning worthy of Jason Bourne. You'd see all the parents particulate in a game of chicken to see who would break first needing to get to work and run the gauntlet before you and other brave souls would try and follow precisely the right amount of time behind to ensure the first wave had been caught by the PTA gang and were thus able to sneak run at full pelt passed the blockade.

You could tell who was on the PTA and who wasn't simply by looking at who was wearing trainers .

A particularly fine idea was to piggy back on the schools push for parents to walk to school rather than drive. Great idea, no problem with that, until the PTA suggested that those parents who lived near the school should "rent" their driveways to parents who had to drive, charging 50p a time which should then be donated to the school.

Then the cake sales - where there was a list of "acceptable" cakes. No you couldn't just bring in anything. You had to sign up to making a specific type of cake to a recipe they would provide to ensure "cake diversity" and quality of organic ingredients.

These would then be sold for half the price of the cost of the ingredients - frankly it would have been easier and more profitable to just hand over £20.

Plays and any other evening events we were expected to bring in donations of tea/coffee, milk, biscuits - no problem with that until you were asked to pay 30p for a single digestive from a pack you'd brought in.

On the bright side I did find the daily exercise did wonders for my health

I'm at the fucking cheek of it!

I would arrange to meet her at the school and just say thanks for helping me find them take them and walk off.

Pay by cheque and then bounce it. If they threaten to take you to court, you'll win because the boots are yours anyway.

"cake diversity"