Our school recently received a wonderful corporate grant to help fund some landscaping and additions to our playground. I wrote the grant (as parent group president) with the knowledge and consent of our principal. We were both thrilled when the award notification came in.

Immediately after being notified, I contacted the superintendent to arrange a meeting so we could discuss our plans and get the district's input on the project. I fully respect the district's need to review this from a building and grounds perspective and planned to follow any guidelines they mandated. To my surprise, the superintendent was very negative about the project and pretty much put the kibosh on what we had planned. I realize now I should have had her review the grant application before I sent it out, but I wrongly assumed that the principal's consent was sufficient. Until now, she (supt.) and I had always had a great working relationship and she is a very reasonable person. I am not one to go off on my own and plan things, I just thought this was okay as approved by the principal.

What now? Do I send back the grant money? Do I see if the corporation will work with me on changing some aspects of the project? The superintendent did offer some alternative ideas of how we could use the money, and while they are similar, they are NOT exactly what I wrote the grant for. Sorry this is so long, but does anyone have any insight? We did deposit the check, but have the money sitting aside, so it would not hurt us to return it. I just HATE to lose this opportunity!