PTO pie in the face for fundraising?

I don't think the staff would continue participating in things like this if they didn't enjoy it. I'd let it be.

If the people with whom the students have day-to-day relationships feel this is fun for everyone and continue it from year to year, I don't think a parent needs to come in an pronounce it disrespectful. 

Why do you feel it is your place to object? Surely if the actual participants didnt like it, they wouldnt participate or they would object. This is a case of being offended on behalf of someone else, who is not actually offended.

If you dont want your kids to participate in the activity, then by all means, dont allow them to but dont suck the fun out if it for everyone else

I think this is wrong on many levels and I can’t believe anybody would think that the people who bear the brunt of it actually find it fun.maybe they feel pressured into it, you know, a good cause and all. There is a thin line between doing this to someone who is ok with it and doing it to someone who is not. Should be fun for everyone right?

I've borne the brunt of similar stuff and thought it was fun. It was for a good cause, I volunteered, and good fun was had by all. You may not find it fun and that's fine, but be careful extrapolating your feelings to everyone else. 

If the staff volunteers for it, then I see no need to cause a fuss because you find it disrespectful.

We used to do a dunk tank - it was a huge hit.

One year, we had a staff member volunteer to shave their head if the kids raised enough money - and we ended up with two male teachers with shaved heads, and a female teacher who got a "very short hair cut"

They all volunteered, and the kids got a huge kick out of it!

Surely you can see the difference between teachers crawling around on the floor scrounging for change to use on classroom supplies and teachers volunteering for a dunk tank or a pie in the face.

Yeah, in my mind, it is like someone throwing their change on the ground and watching kids scramble to pick it up, an amusement for the more well off person to watch. I would even prefer an easter egg hunt type of activity to just picking up coins off the ground. 

For the pie in the face, as long as the person volunteered freely, I don't see a problem with it. Our CEO volunteers for the dunk tank for our annual charity fundraiser event. He has a blast and even eggs on the thrower. 

I have never thought that it was funny, but lots of folks seem to like it, and it is always a big fundraiser. So it doesn’t bother me because I don’t have to do it.

I'm on the bench beside you.  Feels unnecessary and demeaning to me. 
And I've done a LOT of PTA fundraising.

I’ll chime in! I’m an elementary principal who gleefully participates in these events. Would I rather be pampered at a spa—-sure! LOL But, I’m mostly talking about fundraising events where I am recognizing that the kids have the most fun when they get to participate in the wins. I’d rather the kids get to participate and watch and cheer along with me getting pied than have only a few big fundraising kids get a chance to win a limo ride to a pizza place, for instance. I’m not asking teachers to be the ones getting messy with me, though, so there is no pressure there. When the kids reach the financial goal, I’ve gotten “pied” (paper plates with shaving cream while I wear big safety goggles), slime, etc. I’ve kissed a pig. When the PTA is the one looking for a prize, I tell them what I’m willing and not willing to do (I’m fat and claustrophobic and don’t want to be duct taped to a wall, I won’t eat a gross bug, and so on). I recognize that the OP’s specific situation may be different if it’s more than one school participating, though, and the people don’t feel like they have much of a choice. So, overall, I do it in the spirit of fun and personally don’t feel degraded. The kids are actually pretty sweet and appreciate us having fun with them. When I was a teacher and we did dunking booths, we enjoyed it! Heck, at that time I’d rather do my time in the dunking booth than be in charge of a hot rowdy game at a a=carnival booth. :-)

I think it’s old fashioned and stupid and sends kids the wrong message. Who likes public humiliation? I would send the email!

I worked HR at a company that did this ‘for fun’ and in an employee survey, it became apparent there were some who didn’t think it was fun and found it degrading even though they participated. We stopped doing it after that.

Sometimes it takes somebody, or a few somebodies, to say something for change to happen when needed.

OP, I think it couldn’t hurt to write an email s sharing your concerns and suggesting consideration of other fundraiser ideas. The principal may be grateful.

My son’s elementary principal always did silly things to motivate the kids from shaving his head to wearing a dress and makeup.  The kids loved it and I think it made the principal less scary to the kids.  

Way back when I was in school, there is no way our principal would have done anything like this.  They were more into intimidation and punishment rather than motivation and fun.  This was back when they made kids sweep the blacktop on their knees with a toothbrush.  This was also when swats with a thick wooden paddle was allowed.  Our principal had holes drilled into his paddle so that he could swing it harder with less resistance. My ex got swats frequently.