ARE YOU READING THE SAME BISD FORESIC AUDIT I AM?

PT. I

By Juan Montoya

Judging by the spin put on the forensic audit performed on the Brownsville Independent School District, it is apparent that some people will simply read what they want to see and not what's on the pages (or nitpicked ones, anyway) of the report.

First of all, let's get something straight. Despite what some folks may wish, nowhere in this report is there any mention of any wrongdoing by former BISD board chairperson Catalina Presas-Garcia. In fact, it was while Presas-Garcia was chair that the vote for the audit was passed by the board, mainly on her incentive and the new majority that included Enrique Escobedo, Lucy Longoria, and Christina Saavedra were reluctantl

y joined by Rolando Aguilar Minerva Pena, and Joe Colunga to make the vote unanimous.

To go against an audit of the BISD's finances would have been political suicide for the minority.

By a 7-0 vote, on September 2011 the trustees agreed to hire the Dallas forensic auditing firm of Defenbaugh & Associates to complete the audit within 120 days. The audit covered the 2008-2009, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years and cost $250,000.

Let's say this up front: No other board has ever dared to voice what has been known locally for decades; corruption exists in the district and we will expose it to the light of day and let the chips fall where they may. What's wrong with that? Isn't that what everybody wanted?

Now, some may speculate motive, engage in arcane legal conjecture and cry foul over the release of the findings threatening dire legal consequences over the release of the findings, but the fact of the matter is that many, if not all of the findings and evidence gathered by the auditors was discussed with representatives of the local FBI office, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the Cameron County District Attorney's office for use at their prosecutorial discretion.

These are the same people who were indignantly whining that the report had not been made public immediately and chided BISD Supt. Carl A. Montoya over his "lack of transparency."

You can't have it both ways.

Below are some of the most relevant findings straight from the report. Copious as it is, we will try to cram all of it in as few parts as we can. We have in past postings provided a link to the actual document and those interested can go back and compare this synopsis with that.

1. Maintenance department and administrator Reyanldo G. Arteaga:

FINDINGS/RECOMMENDATIONS

The Forensic Audit found multiple deficiencies and significant shortcomings within the maintenance department and the management/supervisory staff which demand immediate attention and action by the BISD management. Internal control weakness in management of risks and monitoring of processes and controls have led to the current predictable and deplorable status of the maintenance department.

Recommend that strong administrative action taken on (Arteaga) with consideration up to termination...(and) authority given to new manager(s) to move any/all supervisory staff within and allowance for lending guidance to training for the new staff.

BISD is presently in violation of Brownsville City and Texas State laws...Maintenance department has become used to hiring third-party plumbers in order to secure certificates of occupancy from the City of Brownsville and other jurisdictions during maintenance projects. Ending this illegal practice will save BISD at a minimum $14,000 per year in unneeded expense...

The current practice

of (Human Resources Dept.) not reporting results of criminal background checks into a file should be immediately discontinued and copies of critical compliance information needs to be retained in a retrievable manner in order to comply with district employment policies and State law. A system needs to be put in place where search and results of employees' criminal background are documented and reviewed on a continuing basis, for example, at least once a year.

2. Overtime Issue: Transportation department Administrator Jose Hector Chirinos:

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

In interview, Chirinos stated the overtime abuse was there within the Transportation Department when he took over in 2005. He indicated his efforts to curb the abuse were thwarted by the unions and the board. Chirinos blamed the lack of supervisory assistance yet he himself failed to take a hard line on the issue. Based on the interviews of the drivers and monitors, they took full advantage of the ineffectiveness and complacency displayed by then administrator Chirinos.

Not only did Chirinos conceal (and) fail to disclose, but also took measures, in the form of termination and demoti

on, in an effort to prevent employees within Transportation Department from 1) revealing the trut

h about overtime abuse; 2) furnishing information ; and 3) confronting the abusers. Sta

rting with Viola Currier in 2006 and continuing to date with Terry Spellane, Chirinos subtly a

nd effectively suppressed disclosure and evidence of abuse through firing and demotion.

First, Ms. Currier, with 19 years of experience in Transportation Department was terminated by Chirinos after she qu

estioned employees about their riding the clock. Then, five years later, Ms. Spellane, an experienced accountant, was demoted and removed from payroll by Chirinos after she continued to identify abuse and waste taking place within Transportation.

Ms. Spellane estimated the loss due to the abuse at $600,000 a year. If conservatively only 70 percent were abusing the system by riding the clock one hour per day, the Forensic Audit Staff would put the loss at $420,000 a year, or roughly $2.5 million over the six years in which Chirinos was administrator.

It is highly recommended that strong administrative action with the possibility of termination be taken against Jose Hector Chirinos (and that BISD) hir

e professional business people with experience in running a transportation department...Of all the violators and abusers, the average number of years with the district was 17 years seniority.

3. Overtime abuse: Former Superintendent Brett Springston's Office – Maria Champion:

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

Brett Springston requested employee Maria Lily Champion attend board of trustees' meetings and special meetings and authorized overtime at both the regular and special sessions unnecessarily and possibly fraudulently, accumulating overtime payments to herself ant to the detriment of the district. In school year 2009-2010 Ms. Champion, while administrative assistant to then interim superintendent Springston, received $19,604.89 in overtime pay; a substantial portion of which was incurred attending (board) meetings.

It was later determined Champion was performing a redundant function, namely taking notes for official minutes, similar to the duties performed by and officially designated to Pat Perez, administrative assistant to the board of trustees.

Due to then Superintendent Springston's authorization and subsequent approval of Champion's overtime, it was the opinion of the Brownsville U.S> Attorney's Office that this matter lacked prosecutive merit...(Springston) has been interviewed regarding his misuse of his fiduciary responsibilities as BISD superintendent.

4. BISD Capital Fixed Assets, Kenneth J. Lieck, Lopez H.S.'s Robert Cisneros

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

Forensic Audit found and inherent issue in the system of accounting for inventory under the responsibility of Property Control clerks under the supervision of Warehouse/Txtbks/Fixed Assets Kenneth J. Lieck. Multiple items were established wherein the actual item was located bu the serial number was incorrectly or inaccurately listed in the inventory report.

These occurrences of incorrect or inaccurate initial entry were found to be egregious; that is, not as a result of an administrative error such as a typo or a keystroke fault or dyslexia leading to the conclusion that the items were haphazardly being entered into the system and not being personally verified by name brand manufacture designation, serial number, or in some cases, even by affixed and assigned bar-code designation....

BISD's current system of inventory process does not work....

Additionally it appears that Fixed Assets Department is not conducting its own personal follow up but is depending on what a respective school is telling about an item being unaccounted for, found or not found or stolen...

(As an example, In the case of ) Lopez High School Maintenance Supervisor Robert Cisneros, (he) kept challenging that the item he identified was the same as the asset on the list, when in fact it was not and he was well aware it was not...

(BISD) has identified that Lopez still has 151 out of 341 (44 percent) assets, ranging from laptops to ice machines, missing and not found. This does not include an additional 23 (seven percent) assets reported stolen. Out of 19 records which Fixed Assets states the items were stolen, however, Lopez High representative has now identified 24 assets as stolen and only 8 were found reported stolen to BISD Police Department.

It is recommended that administrative action with the possibility of termination be taken against Kenneth J. Lieck.

Consider administrative action of maintenance supervisor Robert Cisneros. It is strongly recommended that (Cisneros) be given immediate transfer from Lopez to a position where close supervision can be conducted.

Additionally recommended that the two assistants currently under Mr. Cisneros not be promoted in place.

5. Transportation Department assistant administrator Elizabeth Quintana involvement in Overtime Abuse

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Year after year, (Jose Hector) Chirinos was advised directly and Quintana indirectly by Terry Spellane, BISD accountant, of the abuse committed by both (bus) drivers and monitors. Ms. Quintana, who was in charge of Transportation Fixed Assets, also allowed cameras and emergency devices onboard buses to fall into disrepair so much that only 50 percent of these safety and security devices currently function.

(We recommend) immediate administrative action betaken against Ms. Quintana with termination as a consideration. If not terminated, Ms. Quintana should be removed from her position as assistant administrator and re-assigned to a non-supervisory role.

...(also) that BISD Internal Audit Dept. be given the responsibility of auditing the TEA state reports prepared by Ms. Quintana the past three years.

(Next: Joe Rodriguez, Tony Fuller, Memorial H.S. cost overruns, etc.)