Friday, July 11, 2008

Lancaster ISD conservator to start unraveling district’s finances

By Brian Allen of Best Southwest Citizen

Lancaster Independent School District Superintendent Larry Lewis vehemently objects to any comparison between the entity he heads and the failed Wilmer-Hutchins school district. But starting today, the man that was charged with unraveling that district’s tangled finances begins the same task in Lancaster.

James Damm, the conservator appointed to oversee LISD’s finances, formally met the Board of Trustees and the community at Wednesday’s called board meeting. Damm served as interim superintendent of the now defunct Wilmer-Hutchins district. The former school administrator was met by the growing chorus of Lewis critics with the type of attention normally reserved for rockstars. Citizens greeted him with hearty handshakes, thanking him for coming and placing with him their hope that LISD can be placed on the right path.

Ron Rowell, senior director of government for the TEA, introduced the man who now holds the embattled district’s purse strings.

“The assignment of the financial conservator is the result of the school district’s financial management condition and the district’s deficiency in following accounting procedures outlined in the Financial Accountability System Resource Guide and the Student Attendance Accounting Handbook for the past several years,” Rowell said.

Among those failures are improperly recording student attendance, questionable credit card expenditures and possible violations of state law. TEA uncovered those problems in a nine-month audit of LISD. TEA officials said their investigation did not include LISD former chief financial officer Eugene Smith’s recent conviction for embezzlement from Washington D.C. public schools.

LISD’s finances came under increased scrutiny after Lewis proposed a plan for a four-day school week just over a month before the start of the 2007-08 school year. The superintendent initially said the measure would save money but later backed off that claim, saying the proposal would benefit education. He later withdrew the idea after TEA raised numerous questions.

“I’m here to help the children and the community of Lancaster become a world class school district,” Damm said. “In order to accomplish that we have to work together. We have to resolve any differences. We have to work on solving problems, not creating new ones.”

His words drew applause from the audience. Damm expects to be in the district three to four days a week at the beginning of his time in LISD. His fee is $60 per hour and may not exceed $480 per day, a fee the district is responsible for. Damm reports to Rowell monthly. Rowell noted that Damm will work with the district but works for TEA.

Pegasus News content partner - Best Southwest Citizen

Related stories

• Lancaster ISD superintendent to give State of our Schools report to chamber (Oct. 9, 2008)
• Lancaster ISD making progress, according to conservator report (Sept. 26, 2008)
• July Lancaster ISD board meeting called “worst ever” by conservator (Aug. 14, 2008)
• Lancaster ISD board to investigate superintendent (July 30, 2008)

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• Lancaster ISD