By:Andrew Coen
The resolution means that the board can now send letters to two local legislators, Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) and state Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), to encourage them to seek permission from the New York state comptroller's office to conduct the audit. A letter will also be mailed to Comptroller Allan Hevesi.
Other school districts, including Lawrence, are being urged to study their expenditures to make sure there has been no wrongdoing, in light of an investigation by the Nassau County district attorney's office that led to the arrest of former Roslyn Superintendent Frank Tassone last week for grand larceny. Tassone allegedly stole more than $1 million of the district's money and spent it on vacations, meals and other personal expenses, according to the D.A. Roslyn's former assistant superintendent for finance, Pamela Gluckin, was also arrested for grand larceny following the D.A.'s investigation.
The William Floyd school district in Suffolk County is also being investigated by the D.A. for improper expenses.
Weisenberg, who supports the audit, said in a phone interview that as soon as he gets the letter from the district requesting it, he will contact the state comptroller's office to ask for immediate action. "[The audit] is not trying to prove misuses, but is designed to get an outside source of fact to find out how they can do better than what they have done in the past with their finances," Weisenberg said. "[The audit] will clear the air of any misuse or wrongdoing."
The initiative taken by the District 15 school board to conduct an audit of its expenses came two days before Nassau County D.A. Dennis Dillon suggested that audits be done of school districts statewide in light of the recent scandals. "Since the Roslyn scandal broke, I have heard from a number of citizens throughout Nassau County urging that audits be conducted of every school district in our County," Dillon said in a statement last week. "Citizens of every school district in our state have a right to the assurance that the significant tax dollars they are paying for the education of their community's children are actually being used for that purpose."
Weisenberg said that he hopes to have the audit begin this summer, but he is not sure how long it would take.
Lawrence Superintendent Dr. John Fitzsimons also supports the audit. "It would be terrific for the board to have assurances that the procedures that are in place are appropriate and that there is no room for doubt for any level of expenditure," he said. "We should do an audit in light of the climate we are in."
"We will share how money has been spent and hope that everything that has occurred has been legal," said new school board President Kathy Raquet Barry in a phone interview.
Although the state audit would be the first in Lawrence, the district conducted in-house audits after a fiscal crisis in which $18 million in reserve funds was spent by the board and discovered in 2002.
