WEST SENECA SCHOOLS
State audit of West Seneca schools cites flaws
West Seneca School District officials have had trouble keeping track of some of their computers, according to a state audit.
Auditors in the office of Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli checked on the whereabouts of 20 computers and lap-tops, and found that some that were removed from the inventory list were still in use. Another could not be found and was listed as lost or stolen.
District officials indicated it was a matter of incomplete records.
“The computer situation was the one we said, ‘You’re right. We really have to have better inventory control.’ We have over 3,000 computers in the district,” Superintendent Jean Kovach said. “There was an instance where there was one that couldn’t be tracked. We’re confident it was disposed of properly, but there just wasn’t the documentation.”
The audit suggested that because the district does not have documentation on what happened to a couple of the computers, it is possible that sensitive information could be accessed by unauthorized people.
“We are certain that no personal information was at risk,” the superintendent and board President Carol Jarczyk told the state in a letter. “Nevertheless, we have consulted with legal counsel regarding the implications should such an event occur.”
The district was praised by the state for implementing steps to improve in areas singled out in the audit, such as hiring a part-time clerk for technology inventory control.
The state looked at internal control systems over claims processing, purchasing and information technology inventory over the period from July 1, 2006, to July 31, 2008.
The audit also found the district did not provide “reasonable” public notice of the sale of property and did not have policies on how to purchase items that do not require bids.
The district sold about seven acres behind Potters Road Elementary School last year. Kovach said the School Board first discussed the sale in a public meeting in 2006.
The board approved the final sale of the property for $500,000 on April 7, 2008, and the sale occurred April 18, according to the audit.
That did not leave enough time for residents, had they wanted to, to file petitions asking for a permissive referendum on the sale. The superintendent said if residents had objections to the sale, it was assumed they would have come forward in the two years before it was sold.
The sale also was discussed at meetings of the District Parent Council and West Seneca Development Corp., the superintendent said.
To address the problems with purchasing, the district purchasing agent is developing formal procedures for acquiring items that do not have to be bid, the letter said.
“We’re looking at that recommendation. This is a good recommendation in the context of the economic times we’re living in right now,” Kovach said.
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