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Audit committee review: attendance audits show unexcused‑absence impacts; maintenance work‑order system lags
Summary
Quarterly internal audit activity report shows attendance and truancy audits identifying unexcused‑absence issues (El Paso High, Bowie) and a maintenance audit finding an average work‑order completion time of about 44 days among 22,000 orders; corrective action plans and software rollouts were discussed.
Myra Martinez, chief internal auditor, reported to the EL PASO ISD audit committee on the internal audit activity for the fiscal year through March, describing progress on 24 engagements (46% complete) and recent findings from attendance and maintenance reviews.
On attendance and truancy, Martinez said the department added targeted audits at multiple high schools and tested 100% of unexcused‑absence records for the campuses reviewed; the two completed audits in quarter 3 were El Paso High and Bowie. Martinez summarized common findings: prevalent unexcused absences, inconsistent campus self‑audits and teacher attendance taking, data‑coding exceptions at some campuses, and weaknesses in development or documentation of 45‑day attendance improvement plans. She noted findings showed that where plans existed they often lacked evidence of interventions and students continued to accrue unexcused absences.
The superintendent clarified how the audit’s fiscal numbers should be read: “What you received in the audit is a potential loss. It's not an actual loss at this time,” and said the district can work to correct records and reduce or avoid realized funding losses. Martinez and trustees also discussed that coding an absence as excused does not always produce state funding; certain documented absence types (for example, documented college visits or approved religious holidays) can be eligible for funding but many excused absences do not carry funding.
Martinez said the audit team’s analytics dashboards give principals real‑time metrics and highlighted that ninth grade and Fridays tend to have the lowest attendance at the reviewed schools.
On the maintenance audit, Martinez said the team analyzed more than 22,000 work orders and found the average work‑order completion time was about 44 days; 2% of orders lacked completion dates. The review also found inconsistent tracking of labor and materials costs, and missing expected hours for 20 of 50 tested work orders. Martinez said preventive maintenance schedules and building inspections were incomplete in parts of the department and that some historical controls in the eMaint system allowed date edits after creation.
S. B. Pearson, chief operations officer, told trustees the operations division has moved to remedy weaknesses by procuring a new two‑way work‑order system, buying new hardware for field technicians, and establishing regular campus inspections. Pearson said the district plans a soft rollout of the new software in June with a hard rollout in August and that the new system will provide two‑way visibility, production tracking and stronger accountability features.
Martinez also reported on corrective action plan monitoring: the ESSER corrective actions are 80% complete for activities due this fiscal year (one activity remains pending into the next year), PEIMS‑related activities are at 67% and the discipline corrective action is at 94%; some deadlines were extended to accommodate TEA reporting changes. Martinez said the audit office will continue to monitor CAP implementation and follow up on items that cross fiscal years.
Next steps: the audit office expects to finalize several near‑complete reports in April, begin additional attendance audits in April and keep monitoring corrective action plans; operations will proceed with software onboarding and field training ahead of the June soft launch.
