Mount Pleasant parents press board for records and answers on athletics accounts, staffing and library access

Keisha Garrido, a parent of four Mount Pleasant students, told the Cabarrus County Board of Education on Aug. 11 she has not received complete public records she requested in April about transactions in Mount Pleasant High School athletics accounts.

Garrido said she filed a public-records request on April 17 and had not received the records in full as of the Aug. 11 meeting. She said Dr. Williams oversaw an investigation into transactions she questioned — including money from a track account used to purchase dry-erase boards for the football program, funds raised for a weight-room expansion that she says never happened, and volleyball funds moved to the general athletic fund — and that Dr. Williams told her in a May 30 email that no improper spending occurred.

“If there truly was no improper spending, please stand behind your findings and explain your stance,” Garrido told the board, and she asked Superintendent John Kopicki to follow up; she said Kopicki had promised to call but she was still waiting.

Garrido also said Mount Pleasant has lost assistant coaches over the past three years, lost two counselors and that the school does not currently have a librarian because the media specialist was moved into a classroom. She said her daughter arrived to return books and found the library door locked. She also said her senior twins and other students had moved households to play sports at different schools and that an AP Calculus teacher left at the beginning of the week, leaving students to take an online course with a substitute present in the classroom.

Principal Lacey Jacobs was present at the meeting; Garrido said she had discussed many concerns with the principal. The transcript records Garrido’s request for district follow-up; no additional response or outcome was recorded in the meeting minutes.