Bloomfield Parent Under Investigation: Missing Funds

How former is she? She's still listed as treasurer on the school's website...

Just for the sake of accuracy, we don't have PTA organizations in Bloomfield. We have "Home and School Associations.

I feel sorry for this parent and their children who attend that school if they are found innocent and you posted the accusation here on Baristanet!

I just saw her driving a new spankin' brand new Hummer with a 20' wailer hitched to the back.

What gives?

Let the panhandling at Broad and Bay resume...

shoulda known something was wrong when she started scheduling PTA meetings at the OTB.

I feel sorry for this parent and their children who attend that school if they are found innocent and you posted the accusation here on Baristanet! Eh. It is news, you know. It is not like the poster said 'this person is guilty', only that 'this person is under investigation.' I could be wrong, but I suspect, too, that this is not the type of allegation that sticks around after it is refuted, the way sex crime or domestic violence allegations do.

Y'know, sometimes money is just inadvertantly missing, like this $41,000 when a drunk guy lost his pants.

Seriously, you would hope for everyone's sake that it's a recordkeeping error, but by the time the police are publicly talking about it they have usually moved beyond the ohhh, there it is! level of checking.

All funds were slated for the international silver string submarine band

Well, how else is someone expected to pay their taxes in this freaking town?

I may sign up to take her place if mine go any higher!

As a Bloomfield parent, I've always been disturbed that all funds at Demarest and the Middle School were always handled on a cash only basis. My children attended other districts that had audits done on the money. The Boy Scout Troup my son belonged to, in Bloomfield, had both an internal and external audit (and the amount of money was relatively small). Also, keeping track of parent involvement and donations enabled the schools (Stamford, CT) to apply for grants. Several times I've seen that cash is not always handled honestly so this story does not surprise me. I've hestitated to say anything while my children were in school because of any repercussions. This district has a long way to go to clean up the corruption.

"I feel sorry for this parent and their children who attend that school if they are found innocent and you posted the accusation here on Baristanet"

FYI - no one is ever found innocent- they are found not guilty.

There's a difference.

""How do you get so intoxicated that you lose your pants?"

One drink at a time, Appletony, one drink at a time.

To Very interesting:

GREAT reference!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ael - I was a H&S officer at Demarest back in the stone age. We had a lot of procedures in place to ensure the integrity of our organization. At the time, there was some complaining that we officers had control issues, trust issues. Maybe once we moved on they relaxed the procedures. But though some may have accused us of being controlling and paranoid, we could account for all the money, down to the penny.

Well Thanks zip

come on ael----you don't really believe this district is so different from any other. If thats what you think then move to Montclair, Glen Ridge or back to Conn. with the rest of the perfect people.
Corruption happens everywhere, some people are just better at covering it up.
Ther h&s associations and PTA's all have to put procedures in place to avoid having any one person from getting away with it.

my point about the cash--of course you can account for the part you don't pocket. The whole time my childen where in the elementary school and middle school, every thing was on a cash only basis. I'm relieved that the HS organizations only want checks! I did live in Stamford, a "good" district. I had no illusions of perfection but at least using checks there is a greater degree of accountability and honest with state and federal filing requirements.

This is terrible for everyone involved. How tempting it must be to have thousands in your possession and think, "oh, I'll just borrow this amount and put it back next week". I'm not saying that's what she did, just saying it's possible. I happen to be acquainted with the lady and she's a lovely woman.

Fairview found itself in the same situation 10-12 years ago. I don't remember the outcome but that Treasurer was a lovely woman as well! Hell, I'M lovely (if I do say so myself) but would never accept the responsibility of that position.

Aren't financial statements included with the monthly minutes of H&SA meetings? If not, they should be - and detailed!

I have a child at Watsessing and we prefer cash for most of our fundraisers because of the high rate of bounced checks we were getting.Checkbook ledgers are shown at the H&S meetings and an accountant reconciles our check book every year. Pretty good system.