Assabet Valley Regional comes under scrutiny
By Angela Greiner Community Reporter

Region - Representatives of Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School (AVRTHS) in Marlborough have denied several of the findings in a recent report filed by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) regarding a variety of financial issues, including an alleged mismanagement of school funds.

In a detailed response posted on the school's website at www.assabettech.com, the school explained that despite abusive investigative practices used by OIG Inspector Neil Cohen, the school fully cooperated during the eight-month investigation, which included the review of more than 85,000 documents.

AVRTHS Director of Business Patrick Collins objected to the process the OIG used to release the report after the investigation concluded.

"We received the report Friday [Feb. 22] in the morning and after lunch we were contacted by WBZ for a statement," Collins said. "It is particularly disconcerting that the report was issued and made public without consulting the OIG sister agency, the Department of Revenue (DOR)."

The DOR is responsible for annual approval of the school's finances.

"The DOR has strict reporting compliances; we have to annually disclose all of the school's current accounts and external audit reports," Collins said. "… We have always been in reporting compliance with the DOR."

Senior Assistant Inspector General Jack McCarthy, of the OIG, explained that his office did contact the DOR with their findings and it was the DOR's recommendation that his office write the report.

"Our job is not to prosecute, but to shine light on these things," McCarthy said.

The first finding the report cited was: "The school's administrators did not properly report to the Department of Revenue millions of dollars in surplus funds."

The report suggests that the school's excess deficiency funds had $8.88 million dispersed across several accounts.

In response, the school posted an audit report from the independent Providencebased firm used by the school, Kieslak, Eggert and Company LTD.

"It is not uncommon for a district to have several diff erent [accounts] … and what they [the OIG] failed to factor in is the [school's] outstanding financial commitments," Collins said.

Budget items deducted from the $8.88 million include $5.62 million toward the general fund for items such as transportation, capital projects, out-of-district tuition and the student activity fund; $45,441 for adult continuing education; and $454,565 that was donated to the school and held in a trust to be awarded over several years as various scholarships.

"Whoever wrote this [report] does just not understand regional school financing," Collins said.

McCarthy said the school has consistently had approximately $6 million of extra funds in their accounts. He explained that if the school were holding funds for large projects like a building campaign, they would first have to procure permission from the towns to retain that large an amount of money.

"None of the towns said they could hold that money," Mc- Carthy said.

The towns in the region include Westborough, Northborough, Marlborough, Hudson, Southborough, Berlin and Maynard. With the member towns facing tight budgets for the upcoming fiscal year, Mc- Carthy said, the school should return the $6 million to the towns.

In response to other findings that indicate the school has exhibited a pattern of excessive spending, the school's attorney Tim Norres explained that this was due to the district sending more than 20 teachers to conferences. The school agreed that they do send more teachers than other vocational schools do, but defended the decision by citing the school's students' test scores and high success rate.

"Like we expect doctors, lawyers and accountants to stay current in their everchanging field of expertise, we expect and enable our teachers to do the same," Norres wrote in his opinion on the school's website.

The findings claimed that the school spent $24,000 for 22 teachers to attend a conference in Atlanta, while the school contends that it spent $22,510, which included conference fees, airfare, hotel and food for 22 people over four days. The school also denied claims that it paid for spouses to attend the trip.

Regarding other findings, the school gave detailed responses. Also documented is a letter of complaint written by Norres to Cohen, in October 2007, outlining his investigatory methods that, Norres said, exceeded statutory authority. Complaints included allegedly entering the building without authorization and flashing his badge to intimidate staff .

McCarthy defended his officers.

"As a certified fraud examiner, the first thing our inspectors learn is to show credentials," McCarthy said.

When the investigation first began in June 2007, McCarthy said, Superintendent Eugene Carlo said that the school had an open-door policy. After the complaint, he said the OIG officers complied with the school's policies. Carlo was on vacation the week the report was released.

Collins said that the school is waiting for the DOR to review the report.