You definitely do have some things to look into, but I don't think this is insurmountable. In my area, it's fairly common for the parent group to arrange for these enrichment activities and then pay the "teachers" for them; what your school has done by having parents pay the teachers directly would seem strange to us!
A few suggestions--if this has been the policy in your district for some time, presumably there's another school out there following the policy. Don't reinvent the wheel!! I would call around and find out how other schools in the district do things. Or even talk to someone in the school district to see how they recommend handling these situations. Most larger school districts have policies regarding who can come in and do afterschool enrichment programs. If you are only using existing teachers at the school to teach these enrichment classes, that's a lot different situation than putting an ad in the paper for any average Joe to be able to walk into the school building.
Also, see if there is any parent who is an attorney who can help you out on a pro bono basis with the liability questions. He/she may be able to help you draft a waiver of liability form to be used for your different activities, and make suggestions regarding other ways for you to limit your liability, like performing background checks.
Finally, I don't agree that this arangement puts you in the employment business per se; but if you hire, for example, a chessmaster for the chess club, you might have to provide that person with a 1099 form (as an independent contractor, not an employee) at the end of the year. But there are lots of factors to consider in determining the appropriate treatment. You might look for a parent who is an accountant to help you through this part, although, again, your school district should be able to help you.
mom,
You've hit the nail on the head... LIABILITY. It is huge in your case. By handling the money alone you've opened the Pandora's Box. And the worst part is that by not checking into the individual's background, you're group can be considered willfully neglegent should ANYTHING happen. Much less creditentials, certifications or accredidations???
Oh yeah, now that the teacher is your employee, are income and Social Security taxes being withheld? What about insurance, retirement, other benefits?????
My recommendation is to get out of the employment business and request the school pay for it thru a donation account with them. The PTO donates the money earmarked for this teacher, but the teacher is paid by the school. That way the school is responsible for all of that other stuff.
We are having another PTO dilemma. Our school district has a rule that parents cannot pay teachers directly for any enrichment classes that are held on campus. This applies to both teachers at our school and other teachers who come to the school just to provide classes such as music, Spanish, chess, cheerleading, etc. In the past this rule has been overlooked by the administration. However, our current principal is a "by the book" kind of person. She approached our PTO and asked if we could collect money from the students and then write a check to the teachers so it would be a "hands off" transaction. We do not make any money off of this, and we did change the rules so that the classes are open to any student (we have a lottery if too many show up) and not just a select few.
Here's the dilemma. We recently realized that by taking this on we may have a liability issue. Most of the time we don't know the outside teachers - usually parents set up the class and find the teachers and we have just been taking the money. We haven't been doing background checks or anything and now we realize we may have opened ourselves up to trouble if anything happens to a student because of these classes. I would appreciate any ideas on how to handle this and whether this really is something we need to worry about. Thanks -
