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District Reinforcing Procedures

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By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 11, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - School district officials are trying to make sure bookkeeping policies are being followed in the wake of $20,000 reported missing at Pasco High School and problems at other high schools.

Superintendent Heather Fiorentino said last week that the district takes such situations seriously.

"We hold people accountable," she said. "We also prosecute."

Fiorentino told the school board that principals have been asked to meet with their bookkeepers to make sure they are following procedures.

The Dade City Police Department is investigating the missing money at Pasco High. The money is gate receipts from sporting events and its disappearance turned up during a routine audit.

At Wesley Chapel High, the athletic booster club's treasurer appropriated club money for personal use, according to the audit report. That case was resolved after a sheriff's office investigation, and the treasurer is making restitution.

About $20,000 also was missing at Land O' Lakes High, but all but about $1,000 of that was found. Olga Swinson, the district's chief finance officer, said the money, mostly in the form of checks, had been stashed in a drawer.

The bookkeeper later resigned.

Board Chairwoman Marge Whaley said it was difficult to imagine someone thinking it was OK to leave $19,000 in a drawer.

"If your aging mother was doing this, you would be considering an assisted-living facility," Whaley said.

School officials also are monitoring River Ridge High School, where auditors noticed a significant drop in gate receipts for athletic events from one year to the next.

The district wants to determine whether the one year with low gate receipts was an anomaly or if something is amiss.

Board member Kathryn Starkey expressed concern about the problems with booster clubs and gate receipts, and suggested those financial records should be examined at the end of each sports season.

Finances for some booster clubs are managed through school internal accounts, but that's not the case with every school, Swinson said.

State law allows booster clubs to operate independently, and they set up their own accounts.

The school district doesn't audit those accounts, though it does request financial statements from the clubs, Swinson said.

Assistant Superintendent Jim Davis said the district has recommended all high schools manage booster clubs through the schools' internal accounts.

One concern, he said, is that the principal is still responsible for the booster clubs even when the school doesn't control the finances.

Board member Frank Parker, who is an accountant, said that beyond the situations at the four high schools most of the findings that turned up in the 2006 audit were routine and in many cases minor.

"The internal audit staff is doing their job, first of all," Parker said. "They are going to schools. They are presenting their findings."

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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