Tuesday, December 20, 2011

"Creative" Accounting . . .


At the December 5, 2011, Reorganization Meeting, new board members were installed.  Two of the new board members expressed an interest in attending a two-day PA School Board Association training session which will be held in Greensburg.

Details of the conference from the PSBA website:

As dedicated elected volunteers, school boards are charged by the Pennsylvania Constitution with the important responsibility of providing for a "...thorough and efficient system of education." The school boards should:

• Function as the policy-making body to guide district operations.
• Operate within a specific legal framework.
• Be the steward of our communities' financial resources and the trustee of our children's future.

Guided by our mission of leadership, service and advocacy, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association is committed to providing practical and up-to-date professional development to help the commonwealth's school directors and other school leaders provide public education of the highest quality. This unique learning opportunity will help prepare you for the challenging life of a school board member. Learn school governance basics and gain the knowledge you will need to become a successful member of the Team of 10!

YOU WILL LEARN:

Day One — Morning
I'm a New School Board Member, Now What?
• What are the school board's duties and responsibilities?
• What is the school board's governance role?
• What is policy and why is it important?
• How can school boards conduct effective and efficient meetings?

Day One — Afternoon
Budget Basics 
• What financial information do you need to make informed decisions?
• How is the budget developed?
• How do boards monitor the budget?
• What's on the political agenda about property tax reform and school funding?

Day Two — Morning 
It's the Law!
• Learn about the powers and duties of a school board and the role of the individual school director.
• Explore the board's role in hiring, firing and evaluating.
• Hear about students' rights and discipline.
• Discover the legal liability of school districts and school directors.

Day Two — Afternoon 
The Board and Student Success
• See how boards' decisions directly affect student learning.
• Learn what No Child Left Behind means in your school district.
• Find out what you should know about Pennsylvania's Accountability System.
• Learn about school improvement components.



This seems like a valuable conference that ALL school board members should attend in order to be effective, informed members of the board.

The cost of attendance ($349), meals, and mileage reimbursement for a conference in Greensburg in no way compares to the blatant disregard for fiscally responsible spending shown by previous board members and current administrators.   The Greensburg conference would incur no overnight stays, no romantic dinners, and no $14.57 cups of coffee. 

As presented in this blog, former board members and current administrators were permitted to travel and spend carte blanche.  (For one example, see November 1st post, “Rocking the Riverwalk”.)

However, Sroka informed the new members that he would have to “check” the “BOARD CONFERENCES AND TRAVEL” budget line item to see if there is enough money budgeted for attendance.  Sroka stated that he would “get back” to them with an answer.

Sroka had to “check” and get back to them??? . . .

First of all, that information can be found in the budget control reports (budget control reports compare budgeted funding with actual results).  Sroka should have been prepared for the meeting and had a copy at his fingertips.  In fact, every member of the board, including the new members should have had a copy in their board packets. 

In addition, PA School code authorizes the attendance of school board members to state conferences; essentially rendering Sroka’s assertion that he had to “check” to see if money were available moot.

School boards and board secretaries do not have the authority to override municipal law.

24 P.S. 5-516
Title 24 P.S. Education
Chapter 1. Public School Code of 1949
Article V. Duties and Powers of Boards of School Directors
 5-516. State convention or association; delegates; expenses; membership

The board of school directors or the board of public education of any school district may appoint one or more of its members, its non-member secretary, if any, and its solicitor, if any, as delegates to any State convention or association of school directors, held within the Commonwealth. It shall be the duty of such delegates to attend the meetings of such convention or association, and each delegate so attending shall be reimbursed for travel, travel insurance, lodging, meals, registration fees and other incidental expenses necessarily incurred. Any such board may become a member of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, Inc., and may pay, out of the school funds of the district, any membership dues which may be assessed by the association at any State convention of school directors to defray the necessary expenses of maintaining the association and of holding the convention. Such expenses shall be paid by the treasurer of the school district, in the usual manner, out of the school funds of the district, upon the presentation of an itemized, verified statement of such expenses.

Funny that Sroka should suddenly deem it necessary to check the availability of money in a line item of the budget . . .

Take a look at this expense reimbursement:



Sroka approved Craig’s expense of $59.47 for mileage and coffee as allowable under budget item “580 - CONFERENCE AND TRAVEL”; although the necessity of Craig’s attendance at Scholastic Book’s warehouse sale in Homestead is questionable, to say the least.

What’s really troubling is his approval of $105.75 for the purchased books from Scholastic and the prizes from Ranger Depot as allowable under budget item “890 – MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES”.

A quick look at the 2010-2011 budget indicates that a line item for “890 – MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES” did not exist in Craig’s budget.



At the Reorganization Meeting on December 5th Sroka stated that he had to “check” to see if money would be available for the new board members to attend a conference that is authorized under municipal law, yet he authorized and pulled money for Craig’s expenses from a budget line item that didn’t even exist.

? ? ? ? ?

More Creative Accounting . . .

Here’s another example of the “creative accounting” that this administration does so well and so often.

On this reimbursement submittal, Craig went to Washington, DC, to attend the National Convention of the Institute for Education Leadership (IEL).





Here’s a description of IEL:

About IEL

Since 1964, the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) – a non-profit, nonpartisan organization – has been at the forefront of innovative efforts that bring together leaders across the various sectors of education (P-20), workforce development and child- and youth-serving systems. IEL builds partnerships across institutional boundaries, helping individuals and institutions tackle leadership challenges and leverage the resources of multiple partners to foster reform. For IEL, deep and purposeful collaboration is essential to getting results that will transform learning for the 21st Century
.
IEL’s work focuses on multiple factors that influence child and youth outcomes. Institutional factors, such as effective organizational stewardship and strong professional development; in-school factors, such as principal leadership, teacher quality and rigorous, engaging curricula; and non-school factors, such as family circumstances and community context all require attention. We believe that our society and our leaders can and must address all dimensions of child and youth development.


Sroka charged this convention to “240 - TUITION REIMBURSEMENT”.



Tuition reimbursement????

This is how the PDE’s Chart of Accounts defines “Tuition Reimbursement”:

240 TUITION REIMBURSEMENT

Amounts reimbursed (or paid directly) by the LEA to any employee qualifying for tuition reimbursement based upon LEA tuition reimbursement policy.

According to the LEA (Fort Cherry), tuition is to be reimbursed for credit courses taken through an institution of higher learning.

ACT 93 AGREEMENT between the
FORT CHERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT and the
FORT CHERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT AMMINISTRATORS
July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2016


The appropriate budget line for training fees and associated costs that Craig incurred while attending the IEL convention would be:

324 Professional Educational Services – Employee Training and Development Services
Record to this sub-account expenditures for the professional development of school district personnel including instructional and administrative staff. Included are course registration fees (not tuition), charges from external vendors to conduct training courses (either in house or off-site), and other expenditures associated with training provided by third party vendors.

This is confirmed when you look at the Chart of Accounts description of travel:

580 TRAVEL
Expenditures for transportation, meals, lodging and associated expenses incurred by staff members or students traveling on behalf of the LEA. Per diem in lieu of reimbursement of actual expenses is also charged here. Include in this object travel to and from conference sites. Training fees and associated training costs should be recorded to object 324.

Funny thing – “324 – EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES” was not listed as an option on Fort Cherry’s 2008-2009 budget.  It’s not an option on the 2011-2012 budget either.   (http://www.fortcherry.org/170310102813521177/lib/170310102813521177/_files/Final_Budget.pdf)


The budget as prepared by Dinnen and Sroka gives two options (out of the five available from the Chart of Accounts) for charges to “Professional – Educational Services”:

322 Professional Educational Services – IUs
Expenditures incurred for contracted educational services provided by an intermediate unit.
329 Professional Educational Services – Other
Record here expenditures for consultants and other contract expenditures

With all the traveling that Craig does under the guise of “professional development”, wouldn’t it be prudent to have an appropriate line in the budget to properly account for her training fees and associated costs?
The Chart of Accounts has nine major objects (categories) for expenditures to be charged to.  Those nine are divided into sub-objects for more detailed accounting.
Sroka habitually charges budgeted items to either the “major” object or the “Other” sub-object – essentially keeping expenditures vague.
Charging everything to “other” is poor accounting practice.
In this case, charging a training session to “tuition reimbursement” completely misrepresents the reason for the expense.

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Creative, vague, sloppy accounting practices should not be tolerated.
The taxpayers of Fort Cherry deserve better financial management.
Perhaps the new board members can make that happen.




 

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Ring. . Ring. . Sorry. . Out of the Office at this Time. . So Much Shopping to Do in a Work Day!


Since the publication of the last post, it has come to the attention of the authors of this blog that many parents and taxpayers thought the Fort Cherry Elementary PTA purchased the awards for the Accelerated Reader Program.  Actually, purchasing prizes and awards is something that the FCEC PTA used to do all the time.  It appears that Jacoby has taken over some of the duties previously handled by the dedicated parents of the PTA.

In this post we are going to take a look at the expenses incurred by Trish Craig for the Barnes & Noble Book Fair fundraisers, another example of an event that could be, and should be, handled by the PTA.

The authors of this blog are wondering if Fort Cherry’s Parent Teacher Association now stands for . . .



Principal . . .

Taxpayer money . . .

Administration . . . ?



The Barnes & Noble book fair is promoted by the District as a fundraiser.




Under the guise of preparing for this fundraiser, Craig and the other administrators arbitrarily spend taxpayer money – a lot of tax money.
The taxpayers do not know what profit is made and how the profit is distributed among the “recipients” listed on the flyer – “the School Library, books for Fort Cherry Students in Need, and Accelerated Reader Books for the Classrooms”.
The flyer mentions only one library.  What about the high school library?  During this whole B&N event, the high school appears to have been overlooked.  How does this event benefit FC high school?
Sroka's high school line item budget has been used time and time again to cover the excessive funds needed to cover the elementary expenses.  You will see on the reimbursement forms submitted by Craig that her expenses are split evenly between the elementary (code 10) and high school (code 30).
In addition, the taxpayers do not know if the administrators benefit from any perks or rewards of books, materials, etc.
As you read this, keep in mind that expenses for the book fair are submitted by other administrators, not just Craig.
For example, Dinnen submitted a receipt for a November 10, 2010, B&N “coordination meeting” lunch at Scoglio for Craig, Jacoby and himself that cost taxpayers $83.58.  See October 12th post, “FC Administrative and Board Expenses . . . Doing the "Doo Wop" at Taxpayers' Expense”.  http://fortcherryinfo.blogspot.com/2011/10/fc-administrative-and-board-expenses.html
The authors of this blog did a little research into the B&N Book Fair.  Here’s what we found after talking to a Market District B&N representative:
B&N does like to meet with the school (but it doesn't have to be as many times as Craig met with them).  They could even do this by phone or through emails.
When asked if administration usually plans the book fair, the B&N representative responded by saying that it's usually the PTA,  since administrators usually have a full plate.
The B&N representative said PTAs have the time and are usually more successful than a busy administration when it comes to putting on a book fair.
How funny that the B&N representative would say administrators usually have a full plate.
In FC’s case that can be taken literally, as administrators have eaten out on the taxpayers’ dime quite a few times while on “book fair” business.
The authors of this blog discovered that West Allegheny is sponsoring a B&N book fair the week after FC’s.  And just as the B&N representative said, West A’s PTA takes care of the arrangements.
Fort Cherry’s PTA should too.
Perhaps the new board will consider the fact that an administrator who is able to spend so much time away from the district may not be needed by the district at all.

Let’s take a look at those receipts.

Spring 2010 Book Fair:
April 13, 2010 - Mileage:  33 miles @ $.55/mile.
Cost to taxpayers:  $18.15


May 8, 2010 - “Materials”

May 14, 2010 - “Preparation” and “Books for Classrooms/Libraries” - that would be the Elementary Library (Code 10).




May 8, Masquerade – Materials????
This could be anything, not necessarily materials for the book fair.
Cost to taxpayers:  $40.62



May 8, Target – Materials????
This receipt is illegible, this could be anything.
Cost to taxpayers:  $22.37



May 8, Walmart – Materials – Glue?
Glue is readily available at FC.
Cost to taxpayers:  $9.58




May 8, Michaels – Materials – foam, pom poms, pencils tattoos . . .
Cost to taxpayers:  $40.26


May 14, Barnes & Noble – 3 beverages.
Cost to taxpayers:  $6.68




May 18, Giant Eagle – Materials
Sroka did not provide this receipt in response to the right-to-know request.
Some of the items on the receipt, if not all, were more than likely available at FC.
The public has no way of knowing if Craig purchased school supplies or dinner for her family.
Cost to taxpayers:  $18.13

May 14, Shop & Save - Gift Bags
Cost to taxpayers:  $25.60
May 14, Red Robin – Lunch for teachers.
A hand-written tally?  Did Craig create this list from memory? 
FC District Policy #331 states, “In all instances of travel and job related expense reimbursement, full itemization of expenditures shall be required.” (http://fortcherry.schoolwires.net/fortcherry/lib/fortcherry/_shared/District_Policies/300_Administrative_Employees/331-Job_Related_Expenses.1.pdf)
Is this considered full itemization?
Cost to taxpayers:  $47.98






Fall 2010 Book Fair:
October 10 and November 10, Mileage:  2 trips, 20 miles each @ $.50/ mile.
The mileage on the submittal above was 33 miles. 
Shouldn’t the mileage be consistent?
Were two face-to-face meetings necessary?
Cost to taxpayers:  $20.00







November 18, Cadillac Ranch – Lunch for Craig, Harvey, Delach and Bruschi???
Is Bruschi a FC employee? 
Cost to taxpayers:  $49.47


November 18, Target – Materials – batteries, tattoos, stickers, treat bags.
Cost to taxpayers:  $33.06





November 18, Michaels – Materials – Handi Tak?
Handi Tak is readily available at FC.  In addition, something that would take minutes to obtain from a supply closet at FC surely took longer than that to obtain from Michaels.
More shopping means more time away from the office.
Cost to taxpayers:  $8.52

November 18, Kmart – Materials – batteries, more stickers.
Cost to taxpayers:  $25.61



November 18, strike that, November 2, Walmart – Materials – more stickers and tattoos.
November 2!  Another day to be out of the office . . . shopping!
Cost to taxpayers:  $14.44



November 17, Giant Eagle – Materials – Baby Wipes.
It appears Craig was shopping on multiple days – not just November 18.
Cost to taxpayers:  $4.58


November 17, Target, Washington, PA – Materials – hardware . . . hooks???
Cost to taxpayers:  $27.81



November 17, Office Max – Materials – glue sticks, envelopes, ticket roll.
 Glue sticks and envelopes available at FC.
Cost to taxpayers:  $15.48





November 18, “Materials” - Bliss Avenue –– Face Paint?
Face paint??? . . .
Here’s a description of the store from Bliss Avenue’s website (parental discretion advised). 
Bliss Avenue is the exciting new store that's all about "HER"! Escape reality, or create your own, with exotic lingerie, sexy costumes, clubwear, provocative intimate wear, boots and heels, accessories and more - it's all here!
Can't Find It Anywhere Else?
From club and exotic wear to sleepwear and lingerie... fun accessories and make-up, bath and body products and oils and lotions. Bliss Avenue has an eclectic mix of all things sexy! Stop up and see us sometime!

Craig said the purchase was for face paint . . . is she referring to the “fun accessories and make-up” Bliss Avenue mentions on its website?
Due to the redactions on the receipt, the public is relying on Craig’s description of the purchase.  The taxpayers can only hope it was “face paint” and that no personal purchases were made.
 When contacted, Bliss Avenue stated that they don't sell face paint . . .so . . . what did Craig purchase???
Craig and Sroka charged the Bliss Avenue expense to Budget Code 2270 – 610 Instructional Staff Development Services - General Supplies . . .
General supplies for Instructional Staff Development??? . . . from Bliss Avenue? . . .
Seriously?
The item purchased may have been used for the staff’s “development” . . . but not any type of development appropriate for a school setting. . . and it’s highly unlikely that that the PDE has an appropriate account code for the items sold at Bliss Avenue.
Cost to taxpayers:  $19.22






December 10, Ranger Depot – Prizes.
Cost to taxpayers $22.00




Spring 2011 Book Fair:
Planning begins for the next book fair . . .
March 25, 2011, Organization Meeting, Mileage:  19 miles (this time) @ .51/mile
Cost to taxpayers:  $9.69









May 17, 2011, Setup at B&N, Mileage:  33 miles (this time) @ .51/mile
Cost to taxpayers:  $16.83





With the date of this year’s book fair fast approaching (December 8), there were undoubtedly many more expenses incurred . . . “organization meetings”, “coordination meeting lunches”, “materials” . . . and a lot of time spent out of the office.



Perhaps the new board will consider the fact that an administrator who is able to spend so much time away from the district may not be needed by the district at all.


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Take another look at the April/May/June 2011 reimbursement submittal above.  Craig was reimbursed for food provided to our teachers who were diligently writing curriculum over the summer.

While the authors of this blog have concerns for all expenses, the significant issues here are Craig’s salary and her absence from the office.

Fort Cherry taxpayers are paying Craig, whose title is “Director of Curriculum”, a phenomenal salary.  The information given in response to an RTK request for administrative compensation showed that Craig’s 2009/2010 salary was $100,854.22.  Craig’s published salary is $81,916; her actual compensation included an additional $18,932.22.

At the same time, Fort Cherry taxpayers are paying teachers to write curriculum.

It’s been said that Craig has admitted that she “doesn’t like” writing curriculum.

Craig announced at the June 20, 2011, board meeting that she had 40 teachers writing curriculum over the summer.

The teachers were paid $18 an hour and were permitted to submit up to 24 hours of time.

That’s an additional $17,280 for curriculum writing.

Craig had interns take over after the teachers submitted their work.

If teachers and interns write the curriculum, what exactly is Craig’s role?  The building principals can direct the teachers to write curriculum. 


Schools that are the size of Fort Cherry do not need a Director of Curriculum, especially one whose main job duty appears to be spending . . .

 . . . spending time away from the district and

 . . . spending taxpayer money.

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