FORT WAYNE – When the Fort Wayne Community Schools Board voted to close Pleasant Center Elementary this spring, the school’s Parent Teacher Association found itself with a significant amount of money and little time to spend it.

In March, the group had about $12,000 in its account, some of which it spent on yearbooks, a skating party and a carnival for students. But after all the activities, there was still money left.

So some PTA board members took an unconventional approach to dispensing the funds: To thank themselves for their own hard work, they spent more than $1,800 on six 32-inch flat-screen televisions.

“I just wanted to thank (board members) because we worked hard, especially this year,” said PTA President Amanda Landers, who proposed the idea. “We had to spend all the money, so we didn’t think it was a big deal. It turns out that it is.”

Though the move violated the groups’ bylaws, which mandate that no member shall “benefit from the net earnings of the group,” the situation has since been rectified, according to Indiana PTA President Tina Hartman. After receiving an anonymous tip, the Indiana PTA told board members they would either need to return the TVs or reimburse the PTA fund.

Landers said she decided to use her own money to repay the account so that board members could keep the televisions.

“I would never give someone a gift and take it back,” she said.

The case was the first of its kind in Indiana, said Hartman, who pointed out that since school closures are relatively rare, PTA groups don’t often dissolve. Since more school closures are likely, Hartman said, the Indiana PTA will begin to train its board members on how to dissolve groups – a process that involves working with the IRS.

PTAs are supported by fundraisers and member dues. Teachers and parents can join voluntarily.

Because the PTAs are non-profit groups, both the IRS and the Indiana attorney general have the authority to hold them accountable for mismanagement.

But since the problem at Pleasant Center was corrected, it’s unlikely either agency will act, according to Lloyd Mayer, a law professor and charity expert at the University of Notre Dame.

Nevertheless, experts who track the non-profit industry say cases like this damage the public’s faith in charitable groups.

“When the public sees that donations are being used in this fashion, it really damages trust,” said Ken Berger, president and chief executive officer of Charity Navigator, a group that monitors charities. “A substantial number of non-profits behave badly and make decisions that are more focused on their own self-interest than on their mission.”

According to Landers, she and Shauna Schmidt, board treasurer, thought the group could use its money to buy the flat-screen televisions at $313 apiece for themselves and the other board members: Brenda Berry, Deva Betts, Billi Jones and Marlene Watson.

Landers said the board took a vote to approve the thank-you gifts, but the board members did not know what gift they would receive.

“They were a surprise,” she said of the gifts. “They knew they were getting a gift, but they didn’t know what or when.”

In addition to the 32-inch televisions, the board also voted to buy two 50-inch plasma televisions at $750 apiece to raffle off at a carnival, Hartman said. All together, the group spent more than $3,300 on the televisions.

Landers and Hartman declined to say which board members voted to approve the gifts. Because PTA groups aren’t governmental bodies, they aren’t required to release their records. Typically, at least one teacher attends the meetings, but several Pleasant Center teachers said no teacher was present at this meeting.

Aside from Landers, no board member could be reached for comment.

An anonymous source contacted the Indiana PTA on the Friday before Memorial Day and told the group what had happened, according to Julie Klingenberger, president of the Fort Wayne PTA Council. By the following Tuesday, the state organization had confiscated the books and conducted an audit.

“They did comply with whatever was asked of then,” Klingenberger said. “They really did not choose to deceive anyone. ... They honestly just thought they had to give away the money.”

After the money was returned, the group used it to pay for T-shirts, McDonald’s meals on field day and pens for students, Hartman said.

The group then had $1,000 left over, which it is dividing among the Maplewood, Waynedale and Harrison Hill PTAs. Most Pleasant Center children will attend one of those three schools.

According to the Pleasant Center PTA’s dissolution clause, Hartman said, the group could either spend its money on the Pleasant Center children or give the money to the PTAs at schools where the children would attend.

Hartman said she believes Landers and Schmidt simply wanted to thank the officers who had dedicated so much time. Thank-you gifts for board members can be appropriate, she said, but “most of the time, people do it with a coffee mug, or a water bottle – things that are five bucks.”

Landers said she deeply regrets the decision.

“We’re very sorry,” she said. “We weren’t trying to do anything wrong.”

dhaynie@jg.net