I too wonder what is maintained within this safe. My group doesn't have anything of this nature. Our funds are maintained within a bank account with only three individuals having access (Treasurer, Asst. Treasurer and President). This provides enough people with access while maintaining proper checks and balances. The Principal does not have access to any of our funds, and IMO shouldn't. Of course our group is an independant 501C group, so we control our own group with guidance from the Principal. If your group is a dependant organization then things are different.
At the same time we do have a PTO office when we store all of our things. Items stored within the office include supplies, plasticware, cups, plates, supplies, as well as all of our apparel and spirit items. These items do have a cost associated with them. The office is locked (usually) and a key maintained by myself and one with the secretaries, who only give it out to PTO members.
There have been times when teachers (back when the office was left unlocked) stored items they no longer wanted in our office or even went in there and "borrowed" plates or cups.
For our group, whenever we have an event that includes money, we control things a very specific way. At the end of the evening 2 people (one of which is either the Treasurer, Asst. Treasurer or President) counts the money and fills out a form. Both sign it agreeing of the total funds. The money is then taken by the Treasurer, Asst. Treasurer or President, who then deposits it as soon as they can. As long as we maintain the checks and balances everything is great and we've never had issues. Personally I don't see any reason to leave funds at the school after an event and overall no reason to have a "PTO safe".
I, too, wonder what you keep in your safe. But I'll assume it's just short term storage like overnight after the carnival when you can't get to the bank until morning. Or maybe you collect orders for t-shirts, say, for a week before depositing them. Or maybe your yearbook chairperson needs to drop off the order money so the treasurer can pick it up to make the deposit. I don't have a problem with that kind of money storage in a secure location. I wouldn't have petty cash on hand, however.
We use a locking drawer (i.e. safe) at the school for this sort of thing, but only the school secretary has a key. We have to go through her, but we have never worried about the school seizing our money. The checks are made out to PTO, and the cash, well, she's entrusted with school money, too, so we aren't concerned about her integrity. We never leave money with her for more than a day or two tops.
One thing to consider....years ago, at a PTO Today conference, one of the speakers warned us that the keeper of the money can be considered the owner of the money. This is why a PTO shouldn't use the school's tax id number for its banking...and why it might not be a good idea to use the school's grounds (safe) for storing PTO money.
It's a great ideal to never leave money at the school, and we had such a policy also. We were able to observe it MOST of the time. But it wasn't always possible. Sometimes you are going to have cash overnight, and either it's going home with someone or it will be at school. It might be the change box cash for the next morning, small amounts that just aren't worth an extra run to the bank, or even tickets - which are the same as cash at an event.
We had a locked filing cabinet, inside one of the administrative offices. This was a room that even the teachers' keys didn't access. It was designated by the principal as our secure area for these. (And where they also kept valuables that had to stay in the building overnight.) We were quite happy for the offer.
sounds like your prinicpal wants the key in a safe place, and on school property in a secured closet, or whereever he keeps the other important keys, is a great place for such a thing.
what is the issue, cant the pto people who need access to the safe,simply go request it?
i am SURE one needs to sign keys in and out, when they are in the school/principal 'closet', sounds like a safe place to me, to keep keys for any safe.
I responded under your other post, but now have a question. What do you keep in the safe? YOur checkbook should be with the Treasurer and the account accessible by only limited people. We never keep cash on hand. If we need something, the Treasurer goes to the bank and writes a check for cash with the reason on the memo line.
If your bylaws state that how the bank account is to be accessed by only certain members of the exec board, then that should be enough to keep the principal's hands off. they have their own petty cash and don't need to meddle with the PTO accounts.
This doesn't set off that many alarm bells for me.
For one, I assume a "key closet" is actually fairly well regulated (as opposed to "where all have access to it". I imagine the principal is suggesting this because the key closet is likely more regulated/secure than other measures.
Secondly, what's actually in your PTO safe? I don't know of any other groups that have a PTO safe. I assume you deposit checks immediately and cash even more quickly.
Yes, PTOs are by-and-large independent, but they're also quite often considered reflections on the school (the school the principal is responsible for). How about asking the principal what the concern is and coming up with solutions that help alleviate both sides of the concern?
Would need more info to assume the Principal is up to no good with us. Otherwise, I'd assume the opposite. I don't see a problem here.
