By KIPP ROBERTSON
and RICHARD WALKER
Herald staff
KINGSTON — Marta Michalski resigned as the Gordon Elementary School PTA president, according to an email sent to the Herald Feb. 19.
Ryan Black, who was vice president, is the new president, according to the email. In addition, Megan House is the new auction chair, succeeding Star Ferrer, who stepped down, according to the email.
The email is signed by Black and PTA executive officers Tanya Guest and Lindsey Still.
The email did not include Michalski’s reason for resigning; she could not be reached for comment Feb. 19, but state PTA Region 1 director Cindy Kleinfelter said Michalski resigned because of “irreconcilable differences with the rest of the board members.”
It’s the latest of several departures from a board that has been grappling with a possible theft of funds.
In January, a former member of the board reportedly resigned and reimbursed the PTA $9,000. The Gordon PTA board conducted a financial review to see if money was still missing, but found the financial records in such disarray “there’s no realistic way of knowing where [the PTA] stood financially,” according to a Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department report.
Michalski and other board members went to the sheriff’s office in Silverdale on Feb. 13 to ask for the department’s help. Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson said the PTA presented financial records, text messages and other information. An investigator will study the information to determine if the disarray in financial records shows evidence of criminal intent or careless bookkeeping, Wilson said.
Kleinfelter is treading carefully on talking about the Gordon PTA.
“There really isn’t any information I can give you,” she said Feb. 16. “If you want to ask questions about bylaws or trainings or things like that, I would be happy to talk about those kinds of things. It’s all information that can be found on the PTA website.
“The deal that’s going on at the Gordon PTA is a very delicate situation. We need to be real sensitive, you know, because of the children. There’s just … I can’t say anything else. It’s still under investigation.”
