Going to the police is a long way from "charging". The police will only charge -- and things will only go public -- if there's evidence of a crime.
Yes, investigations are always kept quiet...and you must love to disagree with me!
www.thewbalchannel.com/education/1562804/detail.html
www.click2houston.com/news/1452034/detail.html
Wow, one of those stories is based on one woman's assumptions and look at that still investigating (or not yet investigating, just the idea of it) and charges not filed but all over the news!
AND I WILL REITERATE, I am NOT SAYING sweep it under the rug, I am saying, there are more people involved than just the person who MIGHT be doing something wrong and it is THOSE people, you are protecting. NOT the "suspected" thief. There are hard working board members who WILL be looked at by some as the ones who did it, I AM SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE HERE. And we're not talking Enron here where we saying that the PTA is cooking the books. And gotta agree with kmamom, this isn't the reason these groups are being victimized. It's because these are volunteers and why would anyone want to think that another PARENT could do this to their own child. We're not oblivious, we know it happens, it's ALL OVER THE NEWS, but we look for the good in people and sometimes that doesn't always work.
Also, many state officials do undergo trainings to deal with this issue and investigating it. I know you are a member in MA and perhaps they don't do the training there. I know you aren't referring to NV or CA because we have training (I am not authorized to handle an embezzelment as a Council Pres but I know who to refer it to that is the trained person). Our insurance company also have guidelines that need to be followed before making a claim. They then work with the local unit, with the fewest number of people possible, when going the route of filing a police report. Whether or not they have a legal authority, I suppose would be up to the actual State itself, not the State PTA office (don't want to be misunderstood here) and it's governing laws and how non-profit organizations can deal with these things. (Policies of an organization etc) I suppose the same way an owner of a company would investigate the possibility of embezzelment within it's company.