Our school is seeing the pressure of budget cuts also. I had a "confrontation" with the Principal of our school about the PTO buying paper. I am new to being the PTO President there, so being confronted like that with the Principal was a big bubble burster. I want to raise funds for the school but she is saying that there are rules about raffles and how many fund raisers there can be. We need more money coming in and I feel like my hands are tied. The confrontation today kind of discouraged me and am thinking about not continuing as President, but I don't want to be a quitter. I am here as a Volunteer so I can better my daughters education. The PTO has no problem with buying paper, but when it is agreed that the PTO is to buy a certain amount of paper, you don't turn around and tack on more boxes to the order without communicating to the PTO the change in qty. Am I wrong on that part? I think it's just common courtesy. I have talked to the past President and asked if she had seen this side of the Principal, she said no. I seem to be rambling but like I said I am not sure what to do at this point. Any feedback to this would be greatly appreciated..........

We're seeing the pressure in a few areas:

1) Schools needing to raise more funds themselve, so often "competing" with parent and student organizations for dollars.

2) More competetion among the student groups (high school - so there are a ton of groups raising money

3) MAJOR pressure among the big dollar fundraising groups such as the sports booster clubs and band parents. It's insane - football players had mandatory fundraising amounts and were told by the coach they wouldn't be allowed to practice untilt they each met quota. This is a public school so I doubt that's even legal, but football is "god" here. Soccer players were told they each HAD to sell 30 tubs of $15 cookie dough (Although nothing happened if they sold less.)

Thanks for the extra info! We're all reeling from financial pressures right now. It doesn't seem that any segment of the community is immune to it.

I can't imagine the tremendous pressure your principal is under. It doesn't sound like she's handling it well, causing a previously successful relationship to turn sour.

In her panic, she is looking for every available source of funds.

I'm curious to know if other parent groups are going through the same thing as your group and would like to hear how they're handling it.

No, she's not a new principal. In the past we've had a great working relationship! She's being affected by budget cuts and I think she's freaking out, for lack of a better term. We are an independant organization created and run by volunteer parents. Our general meeting are held at school and she has been invited to our board meetings but she chooses not to attend. We simply can't figure it out! We're trying to help and she's treating us like the enemy. The reason we don't want to comply is because this is a power play on her part. And she doesn't have power over us, except for when it comes to how the money is spent at her school or if it involves the children directly. Do you understand a little better? It's very difficult because we all have a vested interest in that school because of our children. The teachers are on our side 100 percent, however they can't say a thing because they all need their jobs! She's very manipulative!

rebeccak - could you provide just a few details so our advice could be more specific? Just a few questions:

Is this a new principal?

If no, have there been major changes that might be driving her behavior?

Previously, what kind of relationship has your PTO had with the administration and school board?

The reason I ask is because it's impossible for me to believe that the principal doesn't already have all of the documents being requested. I've never worked with a group that didn't have the principal as an advisor or an important member of the process. Regardless of the working relationship, the principal should, in my opinion, get copies of the agendas, meeting minutes, budgets and any auditing information. They should be well aware of any group's activities that have an impact on their school.

I guess, overall, I'm curious about what's driving this tension to begin with.

Now our principal is making it extremelty difficult to have any kind of fundraisers, including spirit nights! We're here to help, she's only hurting our children and the teachers. This is getting way out of hand!