I would not give the Principal gift cards to distribute directly. If she/he requests them, my preference would be that they are FROM the PTO (this serves the purpose of both morale AND showing the staff the PTOs involvement in the school).
I would contact your district school board directly about the PTO/money issue just to cover my bases.
In years past the principal has asked for gift cards as a teacher morale gift. She asked for it again this week. However, we as a pto fund some kind of teacher appreciation each month. Is it appropriate for us to fund this? Is it appropriate for her to claim it is from her or should we put from pto?
in another topic - our president has recently accepted a job at the school. From my understanding per district rules teachers aren't allowed to handle money (she is not a teacher, but still a paid position). Is it a conflict of interest for her to on the bank account and handling money? The thought hadn't crossed any of our minds until today so we want to make sure we do the right thing.