School audit in Marysville spots problems

By Kate Reardon

Herald Writer

MARYSVILLE — A cafeteria manager at Cedarcrest Middle School allegedly filled her handbag with student lunch money for several weeks, making off with $5,000 before police installed surveillance cameras and caught her, according to a state audit released Thursday.

The audit also claims that the Marysville School District violated its own polices and state law when it overpaid a former employee more than $40,000 through an unauthorized severance package when the person resigned.

The district’s financial habits from September 1999 to August 2000 were covered by the audit. District spokesman Dave Steelsmith said the district sees the audit as a "good gut check."

"It’s more of a pulse check than anything else," he said. "It gets your attention real quick. The audit can help confirm suspicions in problem areas and point out some things that we’re trying to improve on."

The audit comes on the heals of frustrating news to some parents earlier this school year that a sheriff’s deputy would no longer be assigned to the high school because it was too costly. It is also likely the district will ask taxpayers sometime next year for more money to build schools for the crowded district.

The cafeteria manager got away with taking money for a period of time because the district’s internal controls to catch discrepancies were weak, the audit says.

Mindy Chambers, a spokeswoman for the state Auditor’s Office, said cafeteria workers kept sales information on hand-written pieces of paper and the tills were often left open.

"There was nothing there to indicate how much (money) should have been there," Chambers said. "You couldn’t tell how much money was missing."

District officials became suspicious last December when they noticed that food services department revenues were significantly less than expected, the report said.

In January, district officials filed a report with the Marysville Police Department. A police investigation of the case included installing surveillance cameras at the middle school.

The report on the investigation concluded that the woman was putting money into her handbag. The woman allegedly admitted to police detectives on March 8 that beginning as early as November 1999 she had been taking $50 to $75 a day up to three times a week, the report said.

Steelsmith said the woman told investigators that she took about $5,000 in total. The woman was fired on March 9.

Since then, the district has hired food services consultant Ann Spencer to oversee staff training and to monitor the food program to make sure procedures are followed. The monitoring includes a review of the number of meals served on a daily basis and cash handling procedures.

"It’s a good thing the district did discover it," Chambers said. "Since then, they are really tightening up the process. They are really taking some pro-active measures to get this fixed."

At that time, the district was under the management of former superintendent Richard Eisenhauer. The current superintendent, Linda Whitehead, was working for the district as assistant superintendent. Her responsibilities then included overseeing human resources. Whitehead officially became superintendent on Sept. 1.

The audit also claims the district violated its own personnel policies and state law when it overpaid a former employee $41,449.13 in a severance package. The severance benefits had not been approved by the Marysville School Board , the audit said.

Part of the package included a sick day buyout which the former employee did not qualify for, the audit said.

In response to the audit, the district is reviewing procedures and plans to discuss any future pay outs with the school board, according to district officials. It’s unclear whether the district will pursue legal action against the former employee, Steelsmith said.

Chambers said the Auditor’s Office doesn’t see problems with severance packages very often.

You can call Herald Writer Kate Reardon at 425-339-3455

or send e-mail to reardon@heraldnet.com.

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