To avoid PTA raffle

[Caulifleur]

We have a fabulous pta which works hard and raises loads of money.

I know there are perks of being senior PTA but at my dc primary school there is sometimes a feelings of “dividing the spoils” at the end of an event like a school fair or bbq. I always feel a bit uncomfortable and I’ve stopped helping out at clear-up.

Recently there was a lovely raffle at an event. PTA said they’d hold the draw at the end. I stayed to clear up. But they waited til everyone left then let their kids draw the winning tickets. The kids were sniggering and I realised they had each bought a ticket and hidden it in their palms so they just pulled out their own ticket, literally the top prizes were all taken by the PTA!

The pta team had their backs turned but the kids were loud and obvious and if I could tell, their mums and dads must have noticed.

I do think it’s nice to reward the pta but I think it’s a bit rich to literally take all the prizes!

aibu to spurn the raffle in future?

That's terrible. When you said dividing the spoils I initially thought you meant taking home leftover food, drinks etc. Taking all the raffle prizes is wrong, and actually illegal as its against gambling licensing laws. Surely someone has questioned this?

This is absolutely wrong and not how it should work at all.
When I was PTA Chair it was often our DC who missed out as we were very conscious of not showing bias
Once at the Christmas Raffle DDs ticket was drawn for the (pretty valuable) prize and I said that she couldnt have it - The Draw wasn't done publicy but The Head insisted she should and the rest of The PTA agreed. I am sure there was some gossip though. We used to get The Head or a Governor to do the draw so as to ensure fairness
In fact The PTA did tend to win quite a few prizes but thats was because we had bought the most tickets

That is awful and as a PP said illegal! Please report it to the headteacher.

Splitting leftover cakes is fair enough but not this!

I was calling a raffle last week and my MIL had given me her tickets before leaving... Three wins from 10 tickets. I put two back because I felt guilty and they weren't my tickets!

Hmmm I’m not going to rock the boat. But I’m also not buying any more raffle tickets!

The sad thing was my own dd was helping clear up and she noticed what was happening with the kids prancing over to their mums saying “I won this hahahaha” and the mums grinning indulgently. My dd was very upset by it.

It's not how my PTA run anything. Totally unacceptable.

Illegal and appalling. I would withdraw from anything to do with it and tell the other PTA members exactly WHY. Rigging is an offence and can be reported to Action Fraud or the Gambling Commission. Plus it's bloody unethical isn't it.

Taking left over food - fine. Pretending to win all the prizes - not fine at all.

Raffles should be drawn in public before everyone leaves IMO. I can't believe they left their kids to pretend to do it.

Incredibly, no. There is no announcing the winners in the school newsletter and the HT and Governors don’t usually attend these events , so there is no oversight. For a variety of reasons most of the events are chaotic and so no one ever really notices that the raffles just sort of disappear.

On one occasion it was prizes the PTA worked incredibly hard to source so I forgave that. But the other occasion was a series of “gift hampers” where they asked people to donate little treats like chocolate or olives, and they made up hampers. So the prizes were actually donated by parents! I thought that was especially cheeky to take those.

YABU to not have told them exactly what you saw, and to let them know they'd better start drawing the raffle AT the event like most places do.

That's disgusting behaviour on their part but I feel as though you're complicit if you don't speak up.

That's the important thing here, not whether you personally buy a ticket or not 🙄

If that is true it is disgraceful.
(Many years on PTA).

This is actually potentially fraudulent. I think you should mention it, if needs be anonymously, to your head teacher. If another parent reported it to Ofsted I think they might take this quite seriously.

At the very least I’d be telling the PTA that this year they simply must have the names and pictures of the winners with their amazing hampers in the school newsletter so everyone can see and buy prizes for the next event…

That's appalling. I have never heard of anything like that. I would tell the head tbh.

Agree when I was on the PTA I bent over backwards to ensure there was no bias. I also thought you meant PTA members taking home any uneaten cakes for free (which is fair enough tbh).

Your later posts suggests this happens frequently. Even if it's prizes sourced by the PTA it's immoral and illegal. Are the raffle tickets sold ahead (as in, sent home in book bags etc)? If so it's governed by the lottery commission and answerable to it. You MUST tell the HT.

That's awful and I'd complain to the head. They clearly can't be in charge of drawing the raffle.

You need to complain to the head ask to be anonymous.

I wouldn't describe a PTA that is involved in fraud as "fabulous".

That's a really horrible thing to do and I hope someone finds out.

If that's true then not only do I think badly if them but I think badly of you for keeping quiet about it. You're condoning fraud.

So unfair. I hate it when school don’t announce the winners in the newsletter! Sometimes it’s my last couple of pounds that I’ve spent to support the school and keep my kids happy and you don’t even find out who won.

If it’s difficult to approach the PTA (I would struggle with the conflict) then I would suggest to the office staff / HT that they start publishing the winners with a nudge nudge, wink wink ‘it might help parents to see who is winning.’ kind of comment, a bit cowardly but would hopefully resolve the problem as surely they would be too embarrassed to see their names published multiple times?

A less contentious way of solving this going forward would be to email the PTA chair and copy the Head / raise at the next AGM and say:

I think it is important that going forward there is more visibility over the raffle draws and the winners. My understanding is that at most schools the draw is done in public during the event and is drawn by a member of staff or random parents. Also many schools publish the names of the major prize winners. I think we should adopt this going forward as otherwise it opens the PTA up to criticism that too many committee members win prizes (which could well be the case as they may buy more tickets).

fucking hell, that’s abysmal

I think there’s a competition and markets authority which has strict guidelines for this type of thing

send a complaint to the head

This. I’m horrified. I’ve been on PTAs for a long time as a child of a PTA treasurer, a staff member and a parent. It’s usually their kids missing out rather than getting any perks.

If you don't want to name yourself, send an unsigned letter to the head. At least they will be able to keep an eye on the situation. I don't think I could keep my mouth shut about that one, and I'm usually one who very much keeps my nose out of everything. I certainly wouldn't be contributing to the raffle again.

Competition and Markets Authority is a different thing - nothing to do with gambling - it's to prevent consumers from unfair practices, such as monopolies that diminish choice.