It is stories like this one that has caused my wife and I to pull our son from the Lockland school district and put him into a prive school, Sts Peter and Paul Academy. I went to an evening class with the Treasurer of Lockland City Schools a few years ago, and he struck me as a very unintelligent person. He could not keep up in class (it was a basic computer programming class), and could not even grasp the basics. I was shocked to learn that he was the treasurer of the school that my son was going to.
I have also learned that there is all sorts of back door deals going on in the Lockland Public Schhol District dealing with nepotism. The School Superintendant's father is the principal of the highschool, and other family members have been given jobs as the football and baseball coaches. All of these job positions should be looked into with a high degree of scrutiny, especially Donna Hubbard the superintendant. I truely believe that she should be removed from her position.
Then there are the backroom deals to bring back the elementary principal who has been charged with assult. I have been unable to find any updates on the status of his case, and the school board refuses to discuss the issue with the public. It has been leaked though that the board is willing to keep him on the job if he accepts a plea bargin. He has a history of being unreasonable with the students, and if you watch him on his job you get the definate feeling that he does not even like kids. How can you keep a person like this on payroll?
Lockland City Schools received an adverse opinion in a state audit released Tuesday.
The annual audit, completed in November, points to at least six areas of concern or "weakness" in the district's internal financial controls. Some of the practices violate Ohio law, auditors wrote.
The document discusses school district finances and expenditures through June 30, 2006. It does not allege fraud or major illegal misuse of funds, however.
According to the audit, Lockland does not follow "generally accepted accounting principals" in its financial records. Instead it bases its accounting reports on how it spends cash. Auditors say this presents an incomplete picture of the district's financial status.
Michael Lau, Lockland's treasurer disagreed.
"It just means they don't agree with the method. They're making a note of it," he said.
"I say fine; I'll take the citation."
Lockland will have to pay a $750 annual fine for its accounting practices.
Lau said he was trying to change procedures to comply with most of the audit's findings, but with only two people in his office, he said, it would cost the district too much money to switch from its current accounting methods to generally accepted accounting practices.
Lockland has had negative audits before. This one, however, doesn't call for reimbursements of state funds.
The audit says that Lockland also spent funds on goods and services before those appropriations were voted on by Lockland's school board.
Steve Faulkner, spokesman for Auditor Mary Taylor, likened this practice to writing a check before making sure funds are in your account.
Lockland also listed negative balances in some of its earmarked funds, essentially taking money from other funds to pay for the depleted accounts, auditors wrote.
"If they're running various funds with negative account balances or spending money before it's been appropriated for things, then it doesn't give you a completely true picture of their financial condition," Faulkner said.
"What it could potentially lead to is future financial trouble. That's why it's being cited in the report now."
Lockland also failed to produce accounting for some student activity funds, and failed to maintain centralized, up-to-date personnel records.
Lockland receives about $7 million annually in tax dollars from state and local sources, Lau said.
Each year the district must balance its budget and keep three percent in reserve for books and supplies and 3 percent for building and capital expenses.
The district has complied with those requirements and is operating in the black, according to the audit.
But Lockland has struggled with declining state financial support as well as a shrinking tax base. In recent years it cut school and office staffs and has limited resources, Lau said.
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