Board reviews audits and corrective-action exercises; district outlines HR fixes and five-year planning

Ruben Brown and district staff led the board through interactive corrective-action exercises on Aug. 26 that drew on the state audit, the districts single-audit (Ruben Brown) and an external management assessment. The session grouped board members into teams to identify findings and corrective actions and to test shared understanding of recurring themes.

The nut graf: district leaders said the audits revealed overlapping weaknesses in internal controls, procurement, travel and credit-card usage, payroll and personnel records, and they outlined corrective actions and timelines to strengthen controls and produce a longer-term strategic financial plan.

Presenters said common findings included missing or incomplete personnel records, unreconciled capital assets and equipment inventories, untimely audits, travel and procurement policy breaches, and exceptions on incentive and retroactive-pay practices. Ruben Brown and staff recommended specific corrective steps: perform physical inventories for capital assets, standardize monthly reconciliations, staff up audit response teams, update and post board-approved salary schedules annually, and implement clearer onboarding and personnel-file checklists.

Doctor Berry, leading HRs corrective plan, flagged three HR audit areas: employee incentives and compliance with the Missouri Constitution (the transcript references the Missouri constitutional provision governing retroactive incentive payments), salary schedules and payroll alignment with board-approved scales, and incomplete personnel files and storage concerns. Berry described timelines for policy updates, record digitization and secure storage and said the district would sample files and report compliance metrics to the board.

District leaders said they will fold audit corrective actions into a five-year financial strategic plan, with the immediate focus on the first year and an aim to reach a balanced budget within three years. The district said it will present metrics, responsible parties and timeframes to the board in upcoming meetings and will meet with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) in September to refine the plan.

No formal board action was taken at the work session; the presentations were informational and designed to produce follow-up work and progress reports to the board.