Wow, what a tough decision. I guess if I found myself in a volunteer situation with a parent I knew for a fact had been drinking, I would be appalled that they would have the nerve to show up that way in their children's school. If they were working directly with the kids or, heaven forbid, going to transport their children or any other children, I think I would step in and pull them aside and tell them that as a parent I am deeply angered that they would set that kind of example for our children and I would recommend that they leave immediately. I would offer to drive them home if needed. I wouldn't even bring the PTO into it because I would be acting on my own(or maybe with the support of some other parents who would be in on the conversation with me).
Just a note of caution: I would do this only if I was CERTAIN the person had been drinking as you were with the second parent you mentioned. The first parent might be a tougher and touchier situation. You can't go on hearsay. I also know from personal experience that other physical conditions can make you act strangely. I'm diabetic and when my blood sugars are very low I am spacey and my hands shake, when they are too high I'm a bit hyperactive, may talk a bit incoherently, and not be able to focus. If I know something like that is happening I will mention it so that the people I'm around don't think I'm going off the deep end, but not everyone would do that. Something to keep in mind.
We have had a couple of incidents recently and I wanted the opinions of others like myself.
A volunteer came to our school and it was brought up by one of the other moms that was in our workroom that they thought this one particular volunteer may have been drinking before she came to volunteer. I could not smell anything and I was close to her because I was trying to show her how a teacher wanted this particular task done. She kept continually messing up what I thought was a relatively easy task. That is why I gave that particular one to her to do. She could not stay with this particular task so she went and did something else. She was very talkative, but she was not slurring her words. But at the some time she was telling us how she liked to drink and continued to tell us about that. She went on about for about 2 hours. My questions is how would be a good way for this to be approached from my standpoint as being PTO President? This was her first time to volunteer this year. Who knows it may be nothing, but I feel I need to look out for the volunteers as well as the school itself.
My other dilemma is along the same lines. I have heard rumors that one of our regular volunteers drinks before she comes to school in the mornings. It is said she does this several times a day. I have never noticed it in the morning but we did have an incident a week ago. We had a volunteer opportunity a week ago and it was after hours at the school. She came in and flat out told us she had already had 4 beers. We gave her the opportunity to help us but it just did not work out. She was slurring her words and could not stay on task. She ended up leaving after an hour, after we had been hearing her complain that her husband wanted to go out to dinner and was mad that she was here. So we go her out on the premise that she should spend the time with her husband and the rest of the family.
Should I just keep an eye on these situations and see if it happens again. If it does happen again, what would be the best way to approach it. Again, I am looking out for the interests of the school as well as the PTO.
