RCMP investigate after $10K goes missing from N.B. school association

RCMP are investigating after more than $10,000 has gone missing from the bank account of a Moncton-area school’s home and school association.

Trina Bland, president of the association for Arnold H. McLeod School, discovered the money was missing when she went to access the account in September at the beginning of the school year.

Digging deeper, she discovered that cheques had been forged over the course of June, July and August.

“As a mom at the school, it is heartbreaking,” said Bland.

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She said that she and her group of volunteers reported missing funds to the RCMP and are still trying to process the loss of money that was raised through more than two years of fundraising efforts.

“It’s all school families it’s parents it’s grandparents and guardians that donate these funds to the school,” said Bland.

Sgt. Mathieu Roy with RCMP’s J Division stated in an email that the reported theft is under investigation and that no charges have been laid yet.

“The investigation is ongoing at this time and we are following up on leads and information we have received,” said Roy.

Jennifer Leger is another parent whose child attends the school. She is also part of the home and school association.

“It’s upsetting because in the end it hurts the kids and that is why we are doing this,” she said.

“We weren’t able to help supply a wish list for the school at the beginning of the year which would have provided new wipe boards for the classes, some new microphones for the gym for student performances, projectors and things like smart boards to make thing more interactive for the students.

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Part of the money was also slated to supplement the school’s breakfast program that feeds about 100 students every morning.

Although the program is funded by the province, Leger says there are so many kids in need at the school that the provincial funds typically run out in early February.

“Right now we are not able to supplement the program” she said, which means some kids may go hungry after the new year.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Right now we are not able to supplement the program" she said, which means some kids may go hungry after the new year.

Both the police and the home and school association refused to reveal more about how the money may have been stolen for fear of compromising the investigation.

But Leger said the committee is looking at ways to better secure their funds and account in the future.

“Once we find out how everything happened, then we will sit down together as an executive committee and just figure out what we can do to improve to stop this from happening again,” said Leger.

For now, Leger said the home and school association is doing what they can to hold fundraisers to try to make up for the losses.