JT board commissioned credit audit may not be public

An accounting firm looking into misuse of credit cards by Jim Thorpe School District administrators has completed its report and submitted it to the district’s school board.

But the board’s attorney said the board needed more time before they could discuss it. He also warned the public that the auditors may not allow him to make the report public.

“They put some language in here that would suggest that they don’t believe that it’s open, but I don’t want to support that unless it’s correct,” said board attorney Carl Beard.

Beard said he received the results of a “forensic review” by Brown Schultz Sheridan and Fritz just a few hours before Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Jim Thorpe Area school board.

The review was supposed to determine whether there were any improprieties with respect to expenditures on district credit cards used by business manager Lauren Kovac and former Superintendent Brian Gasper.

Beard said because the board just received the report, he didn’t want them to discuss the findings during the meeting. He said he wants to discuss it with new Superintendent John Rushefski, who took over when Gasper’s contract expired June 30.

Beard said he distributed copies of the report to the school board for a brief informational session prior to the meeting, but collected them so the results could not be shared. He said they would like to review the report over the next month and decide whether they will discuss it at their September meeting.

“I think it’s only fair that the school board members get to digest it before it gets released,” Beard said.

Board President Pearl Downs-Sheckler has told the public in the past that she believes the report should be public because it was paid for by taxpayers.

Beard said from his reading of the report, he is unsure that the firm is going to allow them to release it. But he wants to do his own review. He said he would talk with an attorney at his firm who handles right to know requests for 100 school districts and see what she thought.

“If a request is made, and we say it isn’t (public), I’m sure somebody’s going to take it up. But I’m trying to avoid that,” Beard said.

In October, when it approved the contract with Brown Schultz Sheridan and Fritz, the school board agreed that they would not release the report to anyone else without the firm’s written approval.

“You must obtain our prior written permission before you distribute a copy of our report to anyone other than the intended recipient,” the letter from the auditors stated.

The board authorized spending up to $15,000 for the report.

The district also agreed to cover the firm’s legal expenses for any depositions, trials or hearings that may result from the report’s findings.

Beard said the firm told him that board members should refer to the report as a “forensic review,” not an audit.

“They just told us that it’s not an audit, it’s a review,” he said.

In May, a BRC TV news reporter confronted the board with credit card statements from a card taken out in Kovac’s name, without board authorization, but which the board had made payments on. The expenses on the card included dozens of meals at local restaurants and first class plane tickets for school board members to attend a national school board conference.

Board member Dr. Michael Principe admitted that he attended lunch meetings with Gasper, and the district picked up the tab.

“I didn’t ask for it, but I did take it. And I didn’t feel guilty about it, because I’m doing board work for a period of time,” Principe said.

Principe, who is not seeking re-election, said he accepted the first class plane ticket because he was told it was cheaper than coach.

During that discussion at the May meeting, Downs-Sheckler said she felt that the report should be made public.

“It will be made public. Taxpayers are paying for it. The public needs to know what’s in it, and the recommendations,” Downs-Sheckler said.