Complaints prove unfounded
In the past three years, the St. Charles Parish school district has been investigated by eight different entities after complaints were filed by individuals regarding the district’s accounts payable.
The cost of dealing with all of these investigations is piling up.
The district has spent almost $10,000 complying with more than 80 records requests from state agencies, federal agencies and members of the public.
Jim Melohn, chief financial and administrative officer for the district, said that complaints have been filed to the Legislative Auditor, Louisiana Attorney General, Federal Attorney General, Louisiana Ethics Commission, two television stations and two newspapers, including the Herald-Guide.
“Every time these entities receive a complaint, it’s their duty to investigate,” Melohn said. “Every one of them gave us a report back that there was no issue or violation.”
Each time a request is made, school district employees must put aside their daily duties to focus on pulling files for the investigation, which often leads to overtime, according to Melohn.
“We take the time to pull all of our files and records that are requested and to date, no one has found anything to substantiate any accusations that have been made against this board,” said Dennis Naquin, School Board member. “It’s the taxpayer’s right to make those requests; all I’m asking is that accuracy be used.”
Alex Suffrin, chairman of the board’s finance committee, said that the high number of complaints and records requests is costing tax payers money that could be used for education.
“Talk about the waste of taxpayer dollars,” he said. “It’s just counterproductive to our core business when we have to fend off baseless allegations. That $10,000 is money that could be better spent in classrooms.
“If we do something wrong then we deserve to be criticized. It’s the public’s right to point out things and hold our feet to the fire, but when it’s baseless, it’s problematic.”
All of the investigations into complaints come in addition to steps that the board takes annually to regulate its own finances.
Each year, the board has an external independent audit conducted by a nationally-certified public accountants firm and have consistently received a favorable result.
“This is the best audit opinion you can get,” Suffrin, who is also an accountant, said.
The district also has an internal audit performed each year and the Business Department has earned many certificates for excellence in finance reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association. Suffrin said the board is also subject to oversight from Louisiana’s Legislative Auditor, Board of Ethics, Attorney General and Board of Education.
Board member John Smith said that some of the complaints were made by individuals who he believed to have a personal vendetta against the school district and board.
“There are individuals who, for whatever reasons, have approached the board and have been dissatisfied with a decision that the board made in respect to their own personal situations,” Smith said. “As a result of that, it’s commonly known that certain individuals have made public statements that they were going to attempt to impugn the board because of those decisions.”
Kamau Odinga, a parish resident who attends many board meetings, also spoke publicly during last week’s board meeting. Odinga said that while he does not agree with some of the complaints leveled against the School Board, he does encourage members of the public to challenge information if they are confused or disagree with it. Odinga said he hoped more community members would attend School Board meetings and voice their opinions, whatever they may be.
Melohn said that the district is currently working on adding more details to its accounts payable reports in the hopes of reducing the number of records requests and any confusion for the public.
The reports changed in 2010 when the district switched to new computer software, but the public should see more details and information in accounts payable reports starting at the August board meeting, Melohn said.
In addition to providing more details, the reports should clear up a few things that may cause confusion to the public. One example is that the reports will separate travel expenses from mileage reimbursements for employees who regularly go from school to school.
“Right now that is calculated as travel but it is actually normal operational costs,” Melohn said.
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