Can/Should preschool committee members get perks for volunteering?

[JellyBelly10]

Hi
I am on the committee of my daughter's preschool (and have been for several years with older child) and in the past it has been discussed (but rejected) that committee members should get certain benefits for being on the committee, such as being first to choose preferred sessions for their children ahead of non-committee members. This idea was rejecetd in years gone by as the committee felt that you should volunteer for the right reasons and not for personal gain. The new committee have now decided to introduce this and when I mentioned it had been rejected in the past they didn't care and have gone ahead anyway, choosing the best sessions for their own children ahead of everyone else. The thing is we operate our session allocation on age, ie the list is sorted into age order and the oldest children get preference...that way as your child goes up the list each term as they get older you eventually end up with your first choice of sessions. Now though, a fifth of the parents are on the committee and regardless of their children's age are nabbing all the most popular sessions! As no-one seems to care "morally" whether this is right I was wondering whether legally committee members can benefit in this way? I know it's not like they are paying themselves money it's still a perk or a benefit...does anyone know the legalities of this??

I don't think you are allowed to do this legally - there should be a framework in place as to how you allocate spaces and you have to adhere to that regardless of who you are.

It is very wrong and an abuse of their positions.

Is your pre-school a registered charity? If so then the committee memebers will usually also be trustees and be expected to put the charity's interests before their own.

I doubt it. Phone the Charities Commission and ask their advice.

Sorry, can't give you any legal advice but, bloody hell, it's all going to kick off at your school!!

Thanks for the replies...will look into the Charities Commission and see what they say. I checked the Preschool Learning Alliance model constitution (which we adopted) and it just says Committee Members cannot be paid for services, it doesn't specify about whether you can get "benefits in kind"...if that's the right terminology! It just seems so wrong to me, I've been on the committee for years and we have never done anything like this before....it seems a bit "exclusive" ! Thanks again for the replies.

Interesting discussion. We've been debating whether a fee paying parent should be paying fees for their child to be in pre-school whilst they're in a committee meeting!

At our pre-school it's first come first served with respect to sessions, so it doesn't matter whether it's a "committee" child or not, they get treated the same.

I would argue in this case though that albeit unpalatable the committee probably isn't doing anything all that wrong. The charity isn't losing out financially is it? Perhaps you could suggest a change to the way pre-school allocates sessions?

on the plus side, I bet it means you'll get loads of volunteers to be on the committee in the future! this was always a problem at dd3's preschool, everyone expected someone else to do it

At mine the committee members don't have to be on the duty rota to help out. That seems to be the only visible perk, however I am a bit and cynical at how sessions are allocated given that the committ children seem to always be allocated the sessions the mums ask for.

Agree with loopy that if this is going to be the case at yours, then it needs to be known to all.

I would expect the pre-school to have a written admissions policy that everyone is subject to, including committee members, otherwise you are not providing equal opportunities for all parents and are being discriminatory.

I think I discussed space allocation with someone really up to date and in the know and I'm sure you have to do it on age (completely unfair to summer babies) on equal opportunity grounds to comply with Ofsted, they are on very dodgy grounds.

Hmmm - might have to go and check it out. As I said above we've always been on a first come first served basis which applies equally across everyone.

The differences might be that our busy sessions aren't full in September. As the year goes on the busy sessions start to fill up by about January. If you're late applying for pre-school you get what's left and sessions are allocated for the academic year as we go along.

Worth keeping an eye on though, I'll ask our administrator to look into it.