By: Andrew Coen
During an afternoon press conference last Tuesday, Hevesi announced that Lawrence is one of four districts on Long Island that will have its finances examined in order to ensure that there was no wrongdoing in light of financial scandals that have occurred in other Long Island school systems.
"We are delighted that our request for an audit was granted, and that there will be no expense to the district," said Lawrence Superintendent Dr. John Fitzsimons. "The only results that will come from the audit is that we may find better ways to conduct things, but I don't think we will find any problems with our accounting practices."
The other school districts chosen by the state to have their finances audited are Manhasset, Hempstead and Brentwood. "It is my hope that these audits will be useful in improving operations, but will find no impropriety," said Hevesi. "We are conducting these audits to help restore public confidence in the schools and to identify problems and mismanagement.
"I have no knowledge that anybody in any of these districts has done anything improper, and no one should jump to any conclusions," Hevesi added. "However, if there is wrongdoing, we will expose it and hold accountable those who are responsible."
The comptroller is urging school districts across the state to study their expenditures to make sure there are no problems, in light of an investigation by the Nassau County district attorney that led to the arrest of former Roslyn Superintendent Frank Tassone on charges of 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 district attorney's office.
Pamela Gluckin, former Roslyn assistant superintendent for finance, was also arrested and charged with grand larceny following an investigation by the district attorney. The DA is also investigating the William Floyd school district in Suffolk County for improper expenses.
At the July Lawrence school board meeting, the trustees voted unanimously to send letters to two local legislators, Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) and Senator Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), to ask them to request that Hevesi conduct an audit. The board's action came eight days before Hevesi announced that certain districts would be audited.
"I'm very happy that we were proactive and that we were one of the districts chosen," said Lawrence school board president Kathy Raquet-Barry. "I have full confidence that there has been nothing but proper operating and doing what is right for the children in the school district. If people in the community have any concerns, then hopefully this audit will help alleviate them."
The audit in Lawrence will review in detail internal controls over all basic financial operations, including purchasing, payroll, cash collections and accounting, and will also include significant testing of individual transactions in each of those areas, according to Hevesi.
In addition to the four school districts chosen for inquiries, a fifth audit will examine administrative expenses in at least 15 other Long Island districts, including East Meadow, Locust Valley, North Shore, Plainedge, Syosset, Westbury, Three Village, Central Islip and Wyandanch, according to the comptroller's office. The administrative expenses that will be examined include credit card use, meals and travel expenses, according to Hevesi.
"We received information about 30 school districts, and we chose to look at the ones where an audit seemed most likely to be useful," said Hevesi.
"If the other school districts are having audits done, there is no reason why we shouldn't," said Raquet-Barry.
Although this would be the first state audit in Lawrence, the district conducted in-house audits after a fiscal crisis during which $18 million in reserve funds were spent by the board, a mistake that was discovered in 2002.
