CPSB: Policy gives ‘clear direction’ on records
Published 6:11 am Sunday, April 9, 2017
Fairview Elementary received an unsatisfactory audit recently. Who was responsible for the “significant deficiencies” at the school?
Who will be held accountable for the problem? What is going to be done about these deficiencies?
Holly Holland, spokeswoman for the Calcasieu Parish School Board, said principals bear the ultimate responsibility for the integrity of schools’ records.
When auditors learn that documentation is missing, a school’s record keeping will always be considered deficient, Holland said.
Additionally, the school’s performance will be deemed “unsatisfactory” because “receipts and disbursements in the school’s accounting system cannot be substantiated,” she said.
The problems that auditors found at Fairview Elementary related to missing records for 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 — considered a repeat finding because in August 2012 “documentation could not be located from the 2012 period,” Holland said.
“The missing documents from 2012 occurred during the prior principal’s employment, who is no longer employed with CPSB. Also, the bookkeeper employed during the audit period is no longer working for the school,” she wrote in an email.
“It should be noted that there was no evidence to support the missing documentation was the result of an intentional action; however, the Internal Auditing Department should have been notified, which would have allowed for a timely investigation. The principal had since been counseled.”
Holland said Internal Auditing Department officials determined that schools in the district lacked “sufficient written controls” to follow if documentation was lost or damaged.
She said the board approved a new policy in January. The measure “provides clear direction to the schools in the event of missing, lost, stolen, or damaged school records,” Holland said.
The policy will be included in the School Activity Fund Manual, which is “the main compliance and training apparatus for matters related to school finances,” she said.
Maximum salary for trooper rank $94K
We have all heard about Mike Edmonson’s retirement.
What does a regular state trooper get after similar years of service?
State police Sgt. James Anderson said the maximum salary for the rank of trooper is $94,748.53.
Col. Mike Edmonson, erstwhile head of the agency, worked for state police for 36 years. Anderson said that a trooper who retires after the same number of years “would be entitled to 100 percent of that salary at retirement.”
WWL-TV last month reported that Edmonson, who stepped down from his post March 15 amid a trooper travel pay scandal, would receive $128,559.84 a year in retirement benefits.
