By:Susan Lin and Rebecca Shalomoff
With accusations of fiscal mismanagement lingering in District 15, members of the Lawrence school board fired Janet McCauley, the school district's assistant superintendent for business, in a unanimous vote at an Oct. 16 board meeting.
McCauley, who will work her last day on Nov. 15, has served in that position for the past year and half.
Board members also terminated their affiliation with R. S. Abrams and Company, an external auditor for the school district for more than five years.
The dismissals mark the first decisive steps taken by the board in the wake of a budget fiasco discovered by the board in August. The board has been reacting to the discovery that school administrators overspent $1.8 million in the budget for 2000 -2001 and are looking at another $700,000 shortfall for 2001-2002. With the $4 million held in reserves completely depleted emergency money which had covered past overexpenditures the district had no choice but to put the financial burden on taxpayers, raising taxes by 14.16 percent.
So that the board can have absolute confidence in the financial information that is provided, they feel it is appropriate to have new people in these positions,said Dr. Mark Rosenbaum, superintendent of the Lawrence Public Schools.
McCauley, under a gag order by the district, was unable to comment on her termination. But she did state she will be able to talk after Nov. 15.
The responsibilities of the assistant superintendent for business are to provide the superintendent with the information he uses to draft a budget to present to the school board. The assistant superintendent is also a trained specialist in dealing with business and finance, and directly supervises the accounts payable, accounts receivable, internal auditing and payroll departments.
If the superintendent is the chief executive officer, then the assistant superintendent of business would be the chief financial officer in the district,said Rosenbaum.
He added that the external auditor is expected to advise the Board of Education and the superintendent on any financial difficulties that exist.
[But] the tone and style of language used by the auditor did not bring to the forefront the problems that exist,the superintendent said.
Rosenbaum is interviewing candidates to replace the business advisor for the immediate future, and said he hopes to identify a temporary person within the next few days.
But he did not give a definite date as to when he expects to replace McCauley. If it takes a month or six months, we will keep looking until we find the right person,Rosenbaum said.
During the public discussion segment of the meeting, those who attended voiced their opinions regarding McCauley's dismissal. Standing and pointing a finger at board members, Chris Komisarjevsky said, Just because you fired someone doesn't exempt the board from their responsibility in the budget. Komisarjevsky of Atlantic Beach currently has six children in the Lawrence school system.
We hear you. The board has to take responsibility for all of this. We see that, we understand that,responded Frank Argento, president of the school board.
Following the two-and-half-hour meeting, Pam Greenbaum, president of the PTA Central Council, said she wasn't surprised McCauley got fired. If you went to board meetings, it seemed that that was the way they were going,she said.
Some were more irate. Why are they firing her? I don't get it. I've known Janet McCauley to be nothing but a professional, and an honest, straightforward person,said Bruce Scher of North Woodmere.
Scher had run for the Lawrence school board in May, but lost to Dr. David Sussman. When educating himself during the campaign, Scher said he sat down with McCauley to discuss the budget. She pointed out to me these problems that are happening in the Lawrence school district a year ago. And she told me she told key administrators of the board what was happening,Scher said.
Sherry Barash of Cedarhurst said she doesn't know how to react to the dismissal of McCauley. I think it goes deeper than Janet McCauley. I never really knew Janet that well, but people have said she was very good at what she did. It's more than one person's fault. Blaming someone isn't going to fix it,said Barash.
