Parents debate right and wrong by withdrawing class fund to visit principal's mother-in-law

(Dan Tri) - An account posted on social media about the incident where the parents' committee used class funds to visit the principal's mother-in-law and asked: "What does the principal's mother-in-law have to do with the children and parents?"

The story of the parents' association using class funds to visit the principal's mother-in-law was shared on several preschool forums, along with text messages arguing between the head of the parents' association and another parent.

This parent objected to using the class fund for funerals because she believed that the class fund was only for student activities. The death of the principal’s mother-in-law or anyone in her family had nothing to do with the child.

In response, the head of the parents' association stated that every class did the same thing and should not be different from the group, and considered attending the funeral of the principal's mother-in-law as a "foreign affairs" matter for the class.

In the comment section on the forums, many people expressed different opinions. One side said that the parent committee really had many difficulties in behaving and "interpersonally" to harmonize the relationship between the school, the teachers and the parents in the class.

One side asserts that class funds are not used for "foreign affairs" and should not be used for "foreign affairs".

Primary school students at the flag-saluting ceremony (Photo: Hoang Hong).

Funeral activities related to schools and teachers need to be completely separated from class funds, because this is not only against the regulations of the education sector but also destroys the beautiful meaning of traditional cultural customs.

Sharing her personal opinion with Dan Tri reporter, Ms. HTH - who has many years of experience as a high school homeroom teacher - commented: "The parents' committee is completely wrong in this matter."

According to Ms. H., if understood and called correctly, the class fund is the operating fund of the parent-teacher association. Thus, the use of this fund and how it is used must have the consensus of all the parents of the class at the time of fundraising.

"Normally, homeroom teachers are not allowed to interfere in the activities of the parent committee. However, to avoid unnecessary consequences, I always advise the class parent committee to make a list of expenses right from the beginning of the school year.

These expenditures must be discussed, voted on, and approved by majority. Any additional costs, if any, must only arise on the agreed expenditure items, and no new expenditure items may arise.

Using the class fund to pay for the principal's mother-in-law's funeral would be completely normal if this spending item for the funeral had been approved by all parents at the beginning of the year.

And conversely, when spending is the subjective will of the parents' committee, all reasons, including "foreign affairs" or "every class does it like that, our class shouldn't be different" should not be accepted.

Parents must understand that any disagreement within the class will run the risk of being brought to social media and becoming a topic of gossip.

At that time, people did not care who the parent committee was, but only looked at which school and which class the parent was from. Unintentionally, the school and teachers were dragged into the incident and their reputation was greatly affected," Ms. H. shared.

Having worked as head of the parent representative committee for 3 years, Ms. Nguyen Tuyet Minh (Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi ) shares the same opinion as Ms. HTH.

Ms. Minh pointed out the reality that many parent committees do not discuss spending issues with the class parents because they are afraid of receiving opinions. Only at the end of the semester do they present a list.

"A parent once told me, there are hundreds of people with different opinions, the more they discuss, the less they can reach an agreement. If there is no agreement, no spending can be done, and the activities of the parent committee are paralyzed.

I agree that this has happened before. Because if just 1-2 people in the class disagree, the class fund cannot be collected or spent. However, the parent committee should not think that they have full authority over the class fund, spending first and reporting later," said Ms. Minh.

Ms. HTH also advised the parent committee to avoid including weddings and funerals in common class activities. "This activity is not only cultural but also religious, and related arguments and objections are taboo for Vietnamese people," Ms. H. expressed.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/trich-quy-lop-vieng-me-chong-co-hieu-truong-phu-huynh-tranh-luan-dung-sai-20241218105156559.htm