Committee, really want to quit...

[kermie]

I joined the committee of my daughter's pre-school as Secretary in September, didn't really want to but without committee members it would have to shut. Someone who has previously ran a pre-school has since told me that if there are any problems with the staff that causes them to take legal action I could be personally sued? Does anyone know if this is right? I am not prepared to lose my house etc.. for the sake of the pre-school. There is a lot of tension in the pre-school with staff leaving and not getting along, we currently need two more members of staff. Also I know the pre-school is losing money due to unpaid fees and no one willing to help with fundraising. The treasurer has quit. Whatever is decided during the committee meetings is changed and the first I ever hear of it is when a note comes home in my daughters bag. Everytime I offer to do something the Chair says 'no I'll do it'. And then whinges about how much they have to do and noone helps out. Sorry about the rant, I don't want to be the rat deserting the sinking ship but I really feel like quitting and taking my daughter elsewhere...

Preschool committee can get you like that.

Take a big breather and look at the issue of you being on the committee and the issue of your daughter attending as two separate things.

Is she happy there? Are you satisfied that she is well cared for and doing interesting, stimulating things? Are you happy that the preschool meets its responsibilities regarding health and safety, adult:child ratios and so on? If so, keep her there. If not, pull her out and go somewhere else.

As for you being on the committee, I can well and truly identify with how you're feeling. It is true that the committee collectively can be held responsible for various things, although the most high risk positions are Chair, Treasurer and sometimes Secretary. All this should really have been explained to you before you signed up, but if not, then you need to read up on it. Might be worth contacting your local Sure Start Partnership as they sometimes run training for new committee members.

It sounds like your Chair is a bit of a control freak. There's an argument to say that the best way to change something is from the inside, so if you have the energy and the motivation, then challenge her. Ask for an item to be put on the agenda for the next committee meeting to raise your concerns about things being agreed (and presumably minuted?) and then changed without the agreement of the committee. Or be more diplomatic and say 'Please give me some specific area of responsibility because I can see that you have a big workload and nobody helping you'.

However, you do it for free and out of goodwill. When I was a committee Chair I put in about 20 hours a week of hard work for nothing (and loved it). Now I'm a preschool business manager and I look at what our Chair and Treasurer are doing for free, and think they're crazy to take on all this extra stress and hassle for absolutely no gain. If you do decide to step down, put it in writing to the Chair. If you don't want to rock the boat by giving your real reasons, just say that due to 'personal reasons' you no longer feel able to make a commitment to the role and wish to step down. Make sure they notify Ofsted to get you taken off again.

Sorry for writing an essay but I hope some of it might be helpful.

I feel for you. Seems you've taken on a lot here without the rewards being forthcoming also. I'm now in my third year on our pre-school committee (Chair, then Vice-chair, then Treasurer).

In terms of personal liability you can limit this by buying insurance which covers you in the event that the pre-school closes. In addition, formally registering as a limited company (which we have done) limits your liability with respect to pre-school losses entirely. Without these you are liable for it so please make sure one of these is put into place.

Hi there. I can Soooooo relate to what you're saying!
I have just quit our committee for those reasons. The chair being a control freak and doing things, making decisions, behind the committee's back - which is not allowed! And items being discussed til the end of time and mo decisions being made or decisions being discussed at consequent meetings that are then changed again. My biggest gripe is that there is no planning or budget in place. It makes it really difficult for the staff to buy materials for example as they have to get permission for every purchase, they contact the chair and the spending gets signed off without being discussed in the committee. There are fundraising events which are not backed up by any sense of goal or target, no one knows how much funds need to be raised, there is also no budget for Fundraising events, so everything needs to be signed off at the monthly committee meetings.
No one knows what funds are raised for, Frankly the committee doesn't know much about the finances until the AGM.
Furthermore details are being overlooked either resulting in overspending (not making a profit on fundraisers) or not conforming to requirements from OFSTED or Early Years.
Of course I have raised these issues over the past 2 years, but nothing ever gets done about it.
I am now in a position where I quit because I was getting fed up and took a spur of the moment decision and now find that there's not a lot that I can do from the outside. So I go along with what Ruby says, if you can stick it out then do so and try to solve issues from the inside!