Sunday, April 6, 2014
Where'd the PTA dough go?
From the Queens Courier:
Nearly 170 graduating students of P.S. 117 in Briarwood may not receive their caps and gowns and may miss out on senior events at the end of their elementary school experience because $30,000 is missing from the accounts of the school’s PTA, The Courier has learned.
The Department of Education (DOE) has launched a probe into the missing money, and the current PTA is barred from fundraising and any other financial dealings, officials said.
Parents learned earlier this year there may not be a senior dance, a school yearbook or graduation regalia because those items were all funded by the now-penniless parent teacher organization.
The school’s principal, Paula Cunningham, refused to comment on the situation and directed calls to the DOE. The DOE confirmed the audit, but wouldn’t answer further questions.
“This matter is currently under review internally, we are unable to provide additional information at this time due to the pendency of the ongoing investigation,” a DOE spokesman wrote in an email.
During a recent meeting at the school led by the new PTA leadership, Cunningham told parents that her hands are tied in the situation, even as parents suggested increasing senior dues to cover the nearly $6,000 needed to make the graduation special.
The dance is estimated to cost about $2,000, the yearbook could be about $1,650 and caps and gowns would be $13.50 per student, or more than $2,200 total, according to parents’ estimates.
“We as a building, as a school, are allowed to have one fundraiser for the entire year. That fundraiser was supposed to be for the entire school,” Cunningham said. “We don’t have funds that we can spend on caps and gowns. We don’t have funds that we can spend on a prom. We sent out letters explaining that the PTA paid for things that cost a lot of money.”
5 comments:
Wtf? Whoever the treasurer of this PTA was should be checked into very carefully. You may as well just have no graduation ceremony at all! Those poor kids will now be missing out on one of the most important moments of their lives because of irresponsible adults!
Caps and gowns and a dance for graduating grade school????? Is this considered to be such an incredible accomplishment these days? How pathetic is that?
Way back when (in the 60s) most kids didn't even get a high school graduation party - it was just expected of one. A stepping stone on your way to college.
The bar is so unbelievably low these days - it's really sad!
Perhaps that accounts for so many young people thinking that they're incredible when they're really failing to mediocre at best.
“I want to be able to remember fifth grade,” Justice said, “because it’s the only year [in elementary school] that I’m actually going to be able to graduate.”
At least he's got realistic expectations!
Commenter #2 - I couldn't have said it better!
"pendency"? Who writes like that? Oh, the Department of Education...
For the sake of transparency, provide the name and address of everyone with authority to sign checks from the PTA account, and street justice will take care of the rest.
"Way back when (in the 60s) most kids didn't even get a high school graduation party - it was just expected of one. A stepping stone on your way to college."
I don't know what to say about that.
When I "graduated" from PS6M in 1969 we had a formal final assembly -although the program was titled "Graduation". No "crap and gown" -as we called them. just white shirt and tie.
In the afternoon we had a party in the cafeteria with a live band, though the following year it was a record player.
ALL the elementary schools that I knew of had something similar.
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