Missouri state Auditor Tom Schweich said today (Aug. 13) that it’s likely his staff soon will be in the county to audit the Fox School District.
The Fox Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday night (Aug. 12) requesting the state to audit the district, following allegations of “financial improprieties” over the past several years.
A roomful of school district residents and employees applauded the vote, which was held during a special meeting held at the Fox C-6 Service Center.
Schweich said he has talked with school officials about the possibility of conducting the audit and he has a meeting planned with his staff on Thursday to talk about it.
But, he said the Auditor’s Office is “favorably inclined” to conduct the audit.
Schweich said the district would not have to pay for the audit since his office would be accepting an invitation to conduct the audit, rather than being forced to do one through a petition process.
John Brazeal, the Fox district’s newly hired chief financial officer, recommended that the school board request the audit after finding what he called possible fraud.
Brazeal said he has spent the past month or so reviewing the district’s finances and has found “serious issues.”
He also said he believes an audit will uncover some “criminal actions.”
Brazeal said in the past some Fox employees used district credit cards for purchases that seemed to be personal rather than school-related.
“We know how wrong that is,” he said.
School board member Steve Holloway said the district is scheduled to make payments to a former administrator and asked whether some of that money could be withheld if it’s discovered the person used district money for personal purchases.
Fox Superintendent Dianne Critchlow is on paid leave until her scheduled retirement in October, following accusations that derogatory comments made about district residents were traced to computers at her home.
Her husband, Jamie Critchlow, another Fox administrator, was fired, and two other administrators, Dan Baker, and his wife Angela Burns Baker, were put on leave but then allowed to return to their jobs after losing some pay and vacation and sick time.
Brazeal said the district needs to consult its attorneys about the matter, but that it may be possible for the district to “capture” some of the money that allegedly was spent on personal items.
For example, he said an employee used a district credit card to make a donation to a political action committee, which is illegal, so the district will be able to recover that.
Brazeal said it looks like equipment that supposedly was purchased for the school district was instead taken to employees’ home for their personal use.
He also said it looks like some of the money generated by the $18.5 million bond issue voters approved in August 2012 was used to hide deficit spending, rather than on projects it was approved for.
Financial documents were shredded and electronic files erased, Brazeal said, adding that some of the records have been recovered.
He said payroll clerks were instructed to pay some employees more than what their contracts or the school-board approved salary schedules called for.
“This was not the work of one person,” Brazeal said. “These things take collusion. My predecessors and the superintendent could have done a better job and hold a great deal of responsibility (for the problems).”
He said some problems occurred because a few people had too much power and subordinates were afraid to question their orders.
“The buildings operated on a great deal of intimidation toward people raising objections about what they were being told to do,” Brazeal said.
He said the district needs to “revamp policies” and better communicate with the school board to avoid the kinds of problems he’s been discovering.
In the past, he said, the school board often approved new hires and other expenditures without seeing contracts or supporting documents.
Even worse, Brazeal said, it looks like some contracts were altered after the school board signed off on them.
“It’s that serious, that wrong,” he said.
School board member Cheryl Hermann said she wants to make sure that if the state conducts an audit that it looks “deep enough” to find all the problems.
“I want to make sure the concerns we have are really looked into,” she said.
Brazeal said he would advise the Auditor’s Office about all the potential problems and financial improprieties he has uncovered.
“We can guide where it (the Auditor’s Office) should go, but the auditor can go as deep and broad as they want to,” Brazeal said.
School board member Dan Kroupa said Brazeal’s discoveries make it obvious that the district must be careful to “hire a good superintendent” to replace Critchlow.
“We have to make sure we have a culture where people can speak up when something’s not right,” school board member Dawn Mullins added.
The board has hired Brent Underwood with the Missouri School Boards Association to help with the superintendent search, and a public forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, at the Fox C-6 Service Center, 849 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold, to allow district residents a chance to provide input about what they’re looking for in the new superintendent.
In addition, a survey will be placed on the district website asking residents to comment about the superintendent search.