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Community questions and answers:
Below
are some highlighted questions and answers from the first
"town hall" style meeting on January at the
Selkirk Fire
House.
The next meeting
will be scheduled soon. Check back here for the date.
Additional questions and answers from the January meeting
will be posted to the district website in the near future.
QUESTION: What were
the "hot points" of last year?
ANSWER: That’s a BIG question! Some of the difficult
problems that faced us are:
 The
Comptroller’s Audit for which we have now developed a
required Corrective Action Plan: we are steadily
implementing the necessary actions
The
Independent Audit for which we developed another Corrective
Action Plan: we have addressed 3 of the 4 comments noted on
the audit report
The
loss of the district’s treasurer and the continuous turnover
in that position
The
loss of a business administrator
The
loss of the interim business administrator
A
sense of mistrust
The
concern for putting a fiscally responsible budget in place
for last year and now for the 2008-09 school year
Some
legal issues
Personnel
issues
We continue to address each of
these concerns, and we are moving forward in correcting the
problems.
QUESTIONS: How did we rectify those "hot points?"
ANSWER: We
have hired a treasurer that we believe has the skills and
experience to effectively handle the job requirements. We
have advertised for a new business administrator and will
begin the interviewing process soon with the hope of having
someone in place before the end of the year.
We
implemented a Budget Advisory Committee that guided us in
crafting a fiscally acceptable budget that was approved by
the community. This year we also have a Budget Advisory
Committee that has begun to analyze the expenditures and has
met with department supervisors and directors to gain a
better understanding of departmental needs.
This group
will also have the opportunity to meet with the Board and
provide recommendations. We press forward on addressing the
issues of both audits; we have addressed the credit card
issues, the payout concerns at the time an employee leaves
the district and a conference taken by the assistant
superintendent and me.
We are in
the middle of developing a comprehensive purchasing process
to control how things are ordered, received, recorded and
paid. We developed an online banking policy that is now in
front of the Board. I am in the process of developing a
payroll policy for the Board’s review. The district has an
accounting firm who know our books and system that provide
us with guidance in fiscal matters and actually conduct much
of the work of the business of administrator. We are not
where we need to be yet, but we continue to work on getting
there.
QUESTION: Clarify the budget in regards to fundraising for
elementary schools.
ANSWER: We
have been cited in audits for the lack of controls on the
use of the Extra Classroom Activity Funds. According to the
state's Pamphlet #2, students are the ones who are
responsible for planning, taking care of, collecting and
making the decisions on how they want to spend the money
they earn through fund raising. The pamphlet also states
that young children may not have the knowledge yet to
undertake that kind of responsibility.
Our
previous Interim Business Administrator put a hold on all
fundraising events because students were not part of the
process. In addition, our district does quite a bit of fund
raising at the elementary level to fund several big field
trips. Again it was decided to stop that while the district
researched what our responsibilities were and how we could
better do what we were doing so parents did not have to
provide extra money for field trips.
The
district promised that no field trip this year would be
denied as we conducted that research.
Some of the
conclusions that we have formulated is that each building
has to have a control in place as to what field trips are
going to be available for the year. There will be money
allocated in the budget to fund a percentage of the field
trips, but it is unlikely that the budget will fund all of
them. The fundraising issue and the field trip issue are
meshed together, and our district leadership team is working
on crafting a policy to the Board, developing a plan to
allow fundraising at some level in the elementary schools.
The Board
could approve a policy that allows elementary children to
fund raise and be involved in Extra Classroom Activity Funds
although it is not recommended for grades K-4. It looks as
if the 5th grade students will be able to use the
middle level student council as the vehicle for its funds.
We are
still working on this; it is complicated and will take a bit
more time. I am confident that the Leadership Team will
come to a very doable solution which I will then present to
the Board of Education.
QUESTION: Where can I find all the information on
fundraising? Are there a solid fundraising policy and
procedures in place?
ANSWER:
There is a comprehensive Field Trip Policy (Policy # 8460)
and a Fund raising Policy (Policy # 7450) in the District’s
Board Policy Book which is on our website. If you need more
information, please reference the New York State
Constitution, Article VIII or the New York Commissioner’s
Rules and Regulations, Section 19.6. As previously stated,
we are actively pursuing information and reviewing what we
have and what we may need to have. |
