Peggy Revell
Almost 20 residents were on hand during last night’s Rainy River District School Board meeting to support a presentation calling for the board to respond publicly to questions surrounding the hundreds of thousands of dollars that went missing from Fort Frances High School over a three-year period.
The presentation, made by David Kircher, asked the board for answers to so far publicly unanswered questions concerning matter, which resulted in former FFHS secretary Fawn Lindberg being charged with theft over $5,000 last October.
During the preliminary investigation by police, it was found more than $300,000 went missing from Fort High accounts between March, 2004 and October, 2007.
Upon speaking with the board chair, the director of education, and trustees, Kircher said he’d been told these issues had been handled by the board behind closed doors and therefore the incident could not be discussed further.
“This lack of response by the board has led to much speculation and suspicion, which leads us to question the [board’s] credibility and its responsibility for our $40-million annual budget and the planning and development of this new school [Robert Moore],” said Kircher.
While Kircher said he did receive a package Oct. 27 from the director of education about actions and procedures taken by senior administration, including dealing with revenues to the school-generated account, the older and newer policies were indistinguishable from each other.
“I do not see a policy or protocol regarding two things,” he remarked. “The procedure for school’s administration or board management to properly report a possible theft or fraud with regard to maintaining the integrity of the evidence and potential witnesses, nor procedure for the authorization and proper use of the signature stamp by school’s administration or board management.”
Kircher wanted to know if these two items had been addressed by the board, alongside other questions including:
•What policies existed concerning school-generated fund accounts, including the issuance of cheques and monthly account summaries?
•During the time that money went missing, how were policies concerning administrators overseeing school-generated funds ensured and followed?
•How did these funds disappear over the three-year period without detection?
•Why has the board not publicly responded to the incident?
Kircher requested the board chair publicly respond to these questions through district newspapers on or before Nov. 14.
Following Kircher’s presentation, board chair Dan Belluz responded by saying that since Kircher was directing the questions to the board, the board will respond directly back to him with the answers.
Kircher replied that responding personally to him or not would be fine, but it’s a publicly-made response that he is looking for.
In other news, a vacant seat on the board also was announced last night as Fort Frances trustee Donna Dittaro submitted her resignation via letter.
A motion was passed to fill the position through the appointment of a qualified person, approved by the board, in accordance with the Education Act.
This method was recommended by Belluz, who cited the high expense of running an election.
The board discussed plans to hold an open session during an upcoming board meeting to decide who will be appointed, upon receiving letters of interest from those interested in the seat.
Anyone can run for the position of trustee so long as they qualify according to the Education Act. Qualifications include being over the age of 18, a Canadian citizen, a town resident, and not have a criminal record, noted Belluz.
