HARRISBURG (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - Event hough schools throughout the state have been shutdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the state's auditing of school districts is able to continue remotely.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale completed the audit of five districts across Pennsylvania, including the Mars Area School District in Butler. In a release, the Auditor General said the district complied with state laws, contracts, grant requirements and other procedures, with one exception.
"The district failed to conduct all required monthly fire drills as required by state law, failed to maintain the documentation, and inaccurately reported fire drill data to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE)," was stated in the release.
According to the audit report, the district self-reported that it didn't conduct 12 out of the 45 required drills, 10 of which were missed due to inclement weather. The other two were missed because the district reported that lockdown drils were held instead in one of the district's buildings.
The findings also show that for the months that the district reported coducting the proper fire drills, it could not provide documentation to verify the accuracy of their self-reporting.
Related
To read the full audit report on the Mars Area School District, click here.
DePasquale said that eventhough schools are closed, his office is able to continue their work remotely, “Pennsylvania schools remain closed due to the coronavirus, but my audit team continues to work remotely with school officials to keep audits moving forward,” DePasquale said. “My audits help ensure every available dollar of education funding is focused on students to improve their learning experience.”
Other districts for which audits were completed include Dallas School District in Luzerne County, Upper Merion School District in Montgomery County, Saucon Valley School District in Northampton County and Franklin Area School District in Venango County.
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