First off...This person does not have the right to go out and do anything in the name of the PTO without the permission of the PTO. Someone needs to explain this to her. How did she get access to the schools postage system anyway? It seems as if some of the problem here is that she has been able to run around like a loose cannon doing whatever she pleases and no one has stoped her. If she took it upon herself to send letters with the school postal system without the consent of the PTO then you should tell her she is responsible for the postage fees. Not that I expect you to really do that to her, but make her realize that without your permission she did it on her own and could be held to the fees incurred.
As for her ring...I have never heard such a thing and I really have no idea what the legality of that is. Can she prove she lost it there? I don't believe you are liable for her ring (but I am not a law expert). I think I would speak to the principal and the Superintendent and ask them what they think.
If she really expects you to pay for the ring then you may want to consider charging her for the expenses she incurred on her own.
Everyones situation with their school is so different, but I can tell you that if this were to happen in our school our Principal would have gotten to her before we did. We have an awesome working relationship with him and he will always be the heavy for us if we need him to be.
Any ideas on how to handle this? We had a volunteer who had a ring damaged while moving boxes and other heavy things for our annual fall carnival. Although she did not complain at the time, she came back later and said that she had lost a $600 ruby and demanded that the PTO pay for it. Is there something we can put in our by-laws to prevent us from being liable for damage sustained to a volunteer's person or property. Aren't these people there at their own risk?
This same person approached businesses in our very small town and accused them of screwing up our carnival because they would not donate what she thought to be enough stuff, even though we already had a donation chairperson who had approached them already -- this person just decided that she would approach them, too. She has already cost us time and money because of her actions, and we have had to go around to these businesses and apologize, since we do not want to lose their sponsorship for next year. She also sent out over 400 letters to businesses in the area asking for donations of any kind, money included, and gave them her home address as the place to send them. She did this without getting permission from the principal, and then ran them through teh school's postage system, costing us another $150 in postage. What can we do about people like this?
