EVERETT — A former president of an Everett parent-teacher association was charged last week with forging at least 22 checks, effectively stealing thousands of dollars from children at the city’s poorest elementary school.
Eighty-four percent of students at Hawthorne Elementary receive free or reduced lunches. By that measure, the school at 1110 Poplar St. has the highest poverty rate among 17 elementary schools in the district.
Merridy Senger, 30, served as president and de facto treasurer of the Hawthorne PTA. Two years ago, she led a campaign to replace the school’s aging, decaying playground. Kids were getting splinters and suffering from broken limbs and other injuries.
Most years, the school’s PTA could barely raise the cash to cover field trips, library books and other necessities, Senger told The Daily Herald at the time.
“Big things don’t come easily to us,” Senger said.
The playground story exploded in the local news media in 2016. By autumn, the PTA had raised $100,000. The new jungle gyms were built.
Then, the next spring, a $5,000 check from the PTA bounced.
Members asked Senger to show them the financial books. She turned over a binder of papers and a plastic bag of receipts. Everett police reviewed the records, and found 27 checks had been made out to Senger’s fiancé. Officers gathered security footage of Senger depositing checks at a U.S. Bank.
Memo lines on checks stated they were for T-shirts, tables, field days, a party, frozen yogurt and ice cream socials. At least 15 memos were “proven to be entirely false,” according to charging papers filed Monday. Police interviewed PTA members who recalled Senger often claimed she’d ordered things — like shirts, for example — that never arrived.
Senger resigned.
Parents and teachers in 2017 learned that $15,000 had gone missing from the PTA.
Not all of that, however, could be conclusively tied to Senger’s alleged thefts, charging papers say. Police determined at least $5,659 had been stolen through outright fraud, with fabricated events. Another $4,035 in expenses appeared to be a mix of questionable and legitimate. Police felt confident there was some degree of theft in those checks, but struggled to quantify the amount.
Prosecutors charged Senger Oct. 8 with first-degree theft, first-degree identity theft, three counts of second-degree identity theft, and forgery, for allegedly signing a colleague’s name on 22 checks. The charges do not mention a motive.
Court records show Senger was being evicted from a foreclosed home on Rainier Street in early 2017. She wrote in a statement to the court that her landlord cut off contact with her and her fiancé, as the house was auctioned off to a bank. She wrote that they needed more time to find a new place: She was a stay-at-home mom with three kids, one of whom was disabled. Her family relied on food stamps and other government help, she wrote.
She was ordered to vacate her home by May 2017, the same month the thefts came to light. The new charges list her address in Mount Vernon. Her arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 23. She was mailed a notice to show up.
It’s unclear if Senger has an attorney. Her listed phone number would not accept incoming calls.
In the aftermath of the thefts, the Everett PTSA Council took charge of the Hawthorne PTA for the remainder of the school year.
According to the Everett School District, an anonymous donor covered the association’s loss with a $15,000 check.
The Hawthorne Elementary School PTA released the following statement Saturday: “In a positive reaction to a negative situation, the good people in the Everett community and school district reacted in a very generous, helpful and supportive way last spring. People stepped in at the end of the school year in 2017 to support the school in all the end of year activities during a potentially negative situation of money loss. Field day, volunteer appreciation day, moving up ceremonies, and summer school kickoff all happened because of generous community donations.
By collecting and distributing the money, Everett PTSA Council helped to support the Hawthorne PTA as they collected a few more fundraising dollars and paid down some of their obligations at the end of the 2017 school year.
Eventually, during the next school year 2017-18, the new Hawthorne PTA leaders opened a new bank account, and began fundraising again. Other anonymous donors provided PTA Treasurer supplies, including binders, office supplies, lockboxes, online Treasurer software, and even a laptop. The new officers, with free training provided by the Washington State PTA, implemented proper money handling procedures. The Washington State PTA and Everett PTSA Council assisted with support and guidance as they moved forward. Vendors have forgiven the debt.
There was an anonymous donor who donated $15,000 to the school to be used over three years to support student programs that are 100 percent just for kids. With some of this generous donation, the fifth graders were able to attend overnight camp for the first time ever.
The Washington State Corporate Status was renewed June 21, 2017. The federal tax exempt status still needs to be recovered. Their progress is notable, however there is still work to be done to completely recover and establish a prosperous PTA to meet the needs of this school. The Washington State PTA, the Everett PTSA Council and the school district continues to support and help this PTA recover.
Last year, the Hawthorne PTA focused on setting a strong foundation. This year, they have goals to give even more back to the kids and the community, engage more families, and rebuild with transparency and positivity. They could always use more volunteers to make it even better.”
Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.
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