Internal Audit Shows 'Extraclassroom Activity Stipend' Needs Slight Tweaks

At the Comsewogue School District's Board of Education meeting on Monday night, the board received a completed comprehensive internal audit report from the law firm of Nawrocki Smith LLP. The firm made two recommendations to help the district monitor extra curricular stipends more efficiently. 

The law firm said the report is designed as a way to monitor such additional duties (such as school clubs) to "ensure the district is disbursing compensation in accordance with district policy and employ bargaining unit agreements," the firm said in the November 2013 report. 

In addition, the report is used as a way to ensure that the board sees and approves all of the stipends and clubs throughout the district, verify that the stipends match what was allocated, and see if there was any weaknesses that can be improved upon. 

The audit showed the board did approve all stipends and all of the club advisors stipends tested agreed to the contractual stipend schedule. It also found that eight percent of the district's club had no financial activity during the 2013-14 school year.

However, there was some room for improvement. According to the report, the extraclassroom activity club advisors did not have to submit to a central treasurer and four classroom clubs didn't submit financial information.

The firm recommended that the district require all club advisors to submit attendance sheets and activity reports indicating "the meeting dates and accomplishments of their clubs" to the extra-classroom treasurer. The second recommendation asked the district to begin reviewing the financial activity of each club on an annual basis. 

With a majority of the extra-classroom activity being handled properly, the board has time to review the two recommendations and determine how it wants to proceed with the proposed suggestions.