IS THIS THE EXCEPTION OR ... The PTO President of a Huntington Beach elementary school, is charged with One Felony Count of Grand Theft by Embezzlement

The PTO president of a Huntington Beach elementary school, Gail Diane Panella-Monestere, 52, of Huntington Beach, is charged with one felony count of grand theft by embezzlement, prosecutors said.

Originally Published Online in 
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

By ALEJANDRA MOLINA and SEAN EMERY  

Gail Diane Panella-Monestere, 52, of Huntington Beach, was charged with one felony count of grand theft by embezzlement, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office. She is suspected of embezzling more than $22,000 from student fundraisers, authorities said if convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of three years in Orange County Jail.

The PTO is also known in other school districts as the PTA and the PTSA; a Parent-Teacher-Student- Organization. Panella-Monestere was responsible for tracking and maintaining fundraiser money for Sun View Elementary School between September 2010 and February 2011, the District Attorney's Office said.

Prosecutors said Panella-Monestere abused her position of trust and embezzled about $22,000 when she wrote unauthorized checks to herself from the PTO bank account in amounts ranging from $250 to $800. She cashed them for personal use, prosecutors added.

Panella-Monestere is accused of keeping cash raised from fundraising events intended to be deposited into the PTO bank account.

School administrators discovered fundraiser money was missing and reported the theft to the Huntington Beach Police Department, who investigated the case.

Panella-Monestere is scheduled to appear in court for an arraignment on June 29, court officials said.

IS THIS THE EXCEPTION OR ...

This story may sound unusual and appalling considering the accusations, however having worked as an ASB director for nearly 5 years and educator for 15, I can tell you that the kind of theft that is described in the article happens at almost every school - public or private. Without district direction, school level oversight and administrative accountability, these incidents happen with widespread regularity. State budget cuts have reduced the number of experienced administrators needed and the problem is multiplied.

BACKGROUND

Most of the time school fundraising, whether it's elementary, middle or high school, is done in cash. Checks and credit cards are seldom accepted. Checks – because of the large number that are return unpaid and credit cards because the schools themselves usually cannot afford the cost.

There are basically three entities that oversee various student fundraising; most are school clubs that fall under the auspices of the ASB (Associated School Body, or student government). Others are run completely by parents, and are independent of the school or district, these are called booster clubs. Neither the principal nor the school district maintains a functional oversight. The last is the PTSA, PTO or PTA, although it may be known under other names. This is the organization of parents who fundraise for the good of the school as a whole and who are governed-by a very strict code with district level and state level hierarchies. Still, the handling of the monies is left to the parent or parents in charge.

The PTSA or PTO works directly with the staff and principal in order to provide for or assist all the staff and students at that school. However the bookkeeping and handling of large amounts of cash is left up to the means of charter's officers, often parents without systematic direction and the temptation is too often that individuals undoing. Regardless of which three organizations, theft happens almost all the time somewhere at some school in your school district. Thefts from Booster Clubs, especially high school, often amount into the hundreds of thousands each year.

JUST ANOTHER LOCAL EXAMPLE?


At the Moreno Valley Unified School District middle school at which I was the ASB co-director, between 2008-2010, teachers and other staff including the principal and his relatives were responsible for stealing as much as $100,000 in cash from student funds.  This includes theft, illegal usage, deliberate misappropriation or laundering money into other bank accounts. Folks that's just one school in one medium sized school district! 

When this kind of mishandling becomes apparent, it is often impossible for concerned individuals to get district level administrators to respond to complaints or reports about stealing of student fundraising monies. Often, these administrators are afraid the situation will become public and the disappearance or mishandling of these monies will reflect poorly on them and their job performance. (In some instances it should.) So instead of fixing the problem, a labor intensive effort, many district administrators will take the easy way out and collaborate in a series of cover-ups hoping the problem can be quietly swpt away. But the problem just becomes systemic as has happened in Moreno Valley. 


Even when presented with evidence enough to warrant a formal investigation, the Riverside County Office of Education seems hard pressed to do anything about about uncooperative districts. In 2006 Moreno Valley Unified School District defied the Riverside County Grand Jury's direction to change its accounting practices. The then Assistant Superintendent of Fiscal Services lied in a letter to the Grand Jury regarding the matter and got away with it because his statements were not thoroughly investigated. The changes the grand jury directed have not been implemented to this day. And the relasted problems have grown much larger. In keeping with the ideology of cover-up is better, Moreno Valley Unified has also ignored the Federal Government Office of Civil Rights' list of demands for change after their investigation of the districts H.R. department practices in 2005.

This kind of system wide cover up also fosters acts of retaliation. District and site level administrators hoping to silence vocal staff or parents trying to do the right thing by way of the students and their schools. This is especially true if the issue has become endemic across the entire school district. For more than 15 years this has been the case in Moreno Valley.

Some of the irresponsibility and cover up allowing these problems occurs at the level of the district school board members. Often the issues are known and liabilities discussed in the board's "closed sessions." The personalities, backgrounds and voter perceptions of the board trustees influence their decisions. These factors make for a cauldron of personal vendettas, poor dicissions, illegal investigations – usually at the behest of one or more of the trustees, thousands of dollars in unnecessary legal fees, and/or blind adherence to the subjective recommendations by the above-mentioned district administrators whose very employment is determined by the whims of the board members they report to.


This problem is further complicated by the trustees need to show voters their school district is being well managed so these trustees will be reelected at the end of their terms. Conversely, a politician can not hope for election to a "higher office" if they are associated with some district scandal. For many trustees the school board is just a stepping stone towards a more powerful and well paying elected office.

For others being a board member is an extension of a narrcisstic facet of their personality. Where they can take the stage in front of neighbors and local individuals. For them, inspite of their retoric, students' and parents' educational needs are seldom their driving concerns.