I will not know what the figures our until September, and believe me I will look at it closly. As for if the fundraiser raised enough money they had plenty of time to know that, they had plenty of time to know how much it would cost and the money went to the company for the t-shirts awhile ago so they knew how much they made, they could have said at the very last PTO meeting if they had enough to cover the expenses or not nothing was said. the short notice was a dirty rotten thing they did.
The President who did get back into office seems to think she can do what she wants when she wants. She headed up the committee that pulled this stunt.
Dont get so upset. Most of the people on PTA/PTO's are just volunteers. They do not get paid for what thye do, thank heavens, because if they did, they'd probaly be in alot more trouble.
Next, I agree that maybe if they didnt profit as much as planned, then they would have to charge. But realistically, if you were to take your children to a real carnival, you would pay a heck of alot more than what you were expected to pay there.
Next, while they should of stuck to the original flyer that said "help raise $$ for the end of the year carnival" you did say that admission was free, and most of time there usually is a "gate Fee".
My school is in a very underprivelaged area, with over 50% ESL students and 90% Free or Reduced lunch BUT we manage to bring in a profit. And by golly, the PTA/ PTO is supposed to have 3 family events for every fundraiser they do in our area, you must budget correctly. If you dont have the funds to pay for something, it doesnt happen, PERIOD. So if they didnt get enough money for the carnival, maybe they didnt want to upset anyone by not having it. See what I mean? I tell people this ALL the time, YOU MUST NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS!
I agree with Yell.
You CAN ask for a look a the books. Your Treasurer should not mind (especcially if everything is kosher). Just ask- don't wait for September. Then you can find out WHY they charged money at the last minute.
Again this all goes back to communication.
Was this committee making unilateral decisions about changing the rules for the event (charging money instead of free???) they should have called an emergency meeting (if nothing else) if money was tight.
I think it is terrible for a few people to make these decisions. If you advertised it as free (if you sold enough t-shirts- by the way how many was enough????)- then it should have been free. Did the t-shirts pay for the carnival?- or was the carnival an incentive to sell the t-shirts? Any way- if your group could not make it free (as advertised) you owed your membership- the courtesy of a letter (or flyer) explaining why it is no longer free ("did not have enough money to pull this off- but did not want to disappoint the kids etc. Would you be willing to support this anyway??").
Anyway- I think you need to bring this up (once you find out the whole story) at your next board meeting. This was poorly handled- and communication and planning need to be better in the future.
Good luck!!
Oh how terrible for the children and parents. I am our PTO President an if I did this I would be voted out or shot(joking).
First you can see them books. Go to your school Office and request to see them. They should be audit or getting ready to be.
Second you should go to the superindent of the school and let them know what in the heck is going on. If the fundraiser was to support this activity then by gally it should be free. (We do an end of year event last 2yrs been skating. We pay for EVERYTHING except drinks or eats they want there at skating rink. But everyone knows this in well advance.
Third is a question? Are these same people voted in for next year?
If these kids and parents thought they where selling to have a fun free day then that is what they should have.
Good luck and Keep us updated how it turns out.
I have been reading this and was just wondering if the flyer came right out and said that the shirt fundraiser will cover ALL costs associated with the carnival and that it would be free to all students or did it just say cover cost associated with... I mean there are times that we put generic info on our fundraisers , for example we will put "all profit from this sale will go to our family craft night, positive behavior school store and disco night".
I guess i am just wondering if the profit wasn't enough to cover the costs which means they lose money? Carnivals can be very expensive to run and get all the different items. I know last year we rented two bouncy things for our game day and it was almost $650.00. Do you know how much was actually made?
Fundraisers are alot of work and Im sorry that your children were being charge, I think the tickets seem high but then we do everything free for our families. Seems like the 1.00 a kid would be okay?
The short notice seems unfair yet sends me signals that costs were too high for the group, I would say that is the only reason we would do something like that at the last minute. The fact that it was a commitee decision and wasnt taken to the membership just says that something was wrong.
Maybe another year you can help them figure how to keep the costs down so it can be a free event. Maybe they could use your advice, it can be hard making decisions that people dont like! Good Luck!
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
None of it can be checked untill September when the Treasures report can be viewed again.
I relized something after I made my previous posts, Committee's are suppose to report back to the excutive committee on what they have decided for an event, they didn't do this.
I am just so angry they did this and didn't give parents more then a day or two's notice that they were charging.
Yes some other parents our upset, Yes a member of the newly elected board knows some parents our upset, and she wasn't in favor of the charging but she is so new to office she not fully aware of what kinds of things could have been done. When I spoke with her today she said she spent 25 dollars at this event, an event she helped out at, then she had to tell her kids they couldn't do anymore stuff. It adds up fast.
Its just so disapointing, I feel so bad that I had to deny my kids this, because of lack of funds.
