November 4, 2009
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News: School Principal Suspended; CC Misuse
You might begin to wonder what is happening to the integrity structure of our educators and government employees as we hear more and more about the credit card abuse that has been plaguing these systems. Has the standard of integrity been reduced or are the governing agencies beginning to take a closer look at the credit card spending of individuals who have been given access to agency cards? It's difficult to say; however, it appears to be a growing problem in our society. Recently another school district has placed an elementary school principal on paid leave which an investigation is conducted looking into the possible misuse of the district's credit card.
Lincoln Elementary Principal Janet Davis was suspended with pay as a result of an investigation that was being conducted stemming from a legislative audit in January. According to the Best Practices Audit conducted by the Louisiana Auditor's Office, the Monroe City School District was not following procedures for the management of district credit cards. Results of the audit indicated that the manager responsible for reviewing all credit card statements was not adequately managing that task. Additionally, the card's bimonthly payments were not being made and the required semiannual inventory of all district issued cards was not being conducted.
Following the report and some bad publicity, the school district began working on policy that would regulate and monitor credit card spending of district administrators. During that time period, some of Davis's spending was questioned leading to her suspension. It is not known why, but the district has not taken the advice of the audit to hire an internal auditor who would be responsible for handing the management of the district cards. However, the district has developed a new card spending policy which was approved last month by the board. Meanwhile, Davis remains on suspension which the district continues its investigation to determine if she or any other administrator misused the cards.