School board will assist PACs that lost thousands to theft
Two parent advisory councils in the Okanagan that had money stolen from them will be getting assistance from the school board.
The PACs at South Rutland Elementary in Kelowna and Glenrosa Elementary in West Kelowna reported that funds totalling more than $40,000 had been fraudulently removed from their respective accounts.
Though it's not the job of the school board to assist with funding for PACs, the Central Okanagan School District is offering to help.
"We're dismayed to hear that this has happened and it's always difficult to understand how it could have happened," board chair Moyra Baxter told Daybreak South host Chris Walker.
"The board has stepped in to say 'we're willing here to offer you support in several ways' to all PACs and the school district as they move forward with their very valuable fundraising efforts."
Specifically, Baxter said the board will ensure students can still attend field trips that would have been subsidized by the PACs.
"We are going to make sure that the students don't suffer from this event," Baxter said.
Thefts not related, police say
According to the Central Okanangan district PAC president, as much as $20,000 was allegedly taken by one of the South Rutland PAC executive members over a period of one to two years.
In September of last year, the parent advisory council at Glenrosa Elementary reported more than $20,000 had been stolen from its bank account. West Kelowna RCMP continue to investigate that case.
Police say there is nothing to indicate the two thefts are related.
Baxter said school board intervention in PAC issues won't be a regular thing because the councils are typically autonomous — but in this case, it is necessary.
"We're expecting the PAC to come up with their plans," she said.
"But in the meantime, because things like buses have been ordered and trips may have been committed to, we just don't want this to stop. So we're certainly not bailing them out, we're just saying these can go ahead and we will sort out the logistics of how you pay for these."
Get involved, create best practices
Baxter said one way to ensure PACs are not being taken advantage of is for more parents to get involved.
"This is usually a very small group of people, sometimes only four or five people," she said. "If people can just give a small amount of time to support that PAC executive to provide some of that oversight that would be really great."
She also suggested coming up with best practices guidelines for PACs to follow, with tips like never pre-signing cheques.
