Seattle schools criticized over money problems

SEATTLE — The city’s public school system has been criticized by state auditors for the same kinds of money-handling problems reported in past years.

Protections for cash receipts were inadequate in the central office, as well as in some lunchrooms and student activities, according to an annual audit of the school system and a review of the handling of federal funds in public schools across the state.

At West Seattle High School, auditors wrote, administrators could not account for $9,000 in retail-related revenue for 1999-2000. Systemwide, 20 computers and a television could not be located because of poor record-keeping.

In each of the past five years, auditors have reported numerous areas of concern, the report said.

At the same time, state Auditor Brian Sonntag said, some problems may be unavoidable in such a large, decentralized school system, and administrators have been "responsive" to the audit findings.

Starbucks apologizes: The head of a Brooklyn ambulance company said Tuesday that the president of Starbucks has personally apologized after rescue workers in New York City were forced to pay a Starbucks shop $130 for water to treat victims of the terrorist attack. Midwood Ambulance Service President Al Rapisarda said he received a hand-delivered reimbursement check — and a personal call from Starbucks President Orin Smith — after reports of the incident became public. Shortly after the Sept. 11 attack, rescue workers rushed into a nearby Starbucks store to get water to treat shock victims, Rapisarda said. Ambulance company workers said employees in the shop demanded they pay $130 for three cases of bottled water. The workers paid cash, out of their own pockets. "It’s totally inconsistent with the kind of behavior we would have expected from our people, so it has been very upsetting to learn of this," Smith said.

Cuts proposed: Lame-duck Mayor Paul Schell has proposed a city budget that would eliminate plans to fill more potholes and build more shelters and transitional housing for the homeless. Tougher spending cuts are likely down the road as City Hall prepares for its first round of belt-tightening in years, Schell told the city council on Monday. Revenue forecasts that were used in the $625.8 million spending plan for the coming year, a $15.8 million increase over the current level, were prepared before the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, Boeing’s layoff announcements and or the stock market’s downward spiral. Faced with about $3 million in declining revenue and higher utility costs, the mayor announced a hiring freeze and instructed city departments to cut spending two weeks ago. Even with those cuts, Schell’s proposed budget is balanced only by tapping a reserve account.

Homeless advocate dead: The Rev. David Griffith Colwell, a football star who became one of the city’s leading advocates for the homeless, is dead at 84. Colwell, who once held a college punting record and founded Plymouth Housing Group in 1980 to provide housing for the poor, died Saturday of complications from a fall. He had been ailing from dementia. "He was a man of incredible dignity and moral presence," said Richard Wilson, former Plymouth Housing president. "He was a great, thunderous preacher when he needed to be, but he was the soul of kindness and gentleness and courtesy. He took his life as a committed Christian very seriously." He started the housing group after homeless people began sleeping in the downtown church’s doorway.

Man killed in grain auger: The state Department of Labor and Industries is investigating the death of a grain delivery man crushed in an auger. Charles F. McKnight, 55, of Airway Heights was delivering mill-run wheat for cattle feed Monday afternoon when he apparently stepped into the machine at Land O’ Lakes Farmland Feed. McKnight was pulled halfway into the screwlike machine used to move grain from a delivery site to storage tanks, said fire chief Charles Damron. Plant employees apparently heard McKnight’s screams, shut off the machine and called 911. Emergency crews cut into the auger, about a foot underground, to free McKnight. He could not be revived, Damron said.

Two dead in boat accident: Two Tacoma-area men have been found dead on a local beach and a third man was missing in an apparent fishing accident. The two bodies and some wreckage from a boat were found about 3:30 p.m. Monday, and no trace of the third man was found in a search, Coast Guard Lt. Chris German said in Seattle. The three men left Westport in a 24-foot Bayliner on a recreational fishing trip, he said. German said winds had been calm but heavy fog hampered visibility and heavy swells were reported, but officials did not know the cause of the accident.

From Herald news services