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District says comptroller audit found documentation gaps but no fraud; outlines fixes
Summary
Administrators told the board the comptroller found missing parent signatures for some tutoring sessions and unclear chaperone time records; the district said it has revised signature fields, will reject incomplete paperwork and will train staff to prevent recurrence.
The Center Moriches Union Free School District told its board that a state comptroller audit found shortcomings in documentation for tutoring sessions and chaperone pay but no evidence of fraud.
At the meeting, an administrator summarized the audit findings and the district's response. The audit covered tutoring and athletic supervision and found incomplete parent signatures on some tutoring logs — a problem the administration said was amplified by the shift to virtual tutoring during the COVID pandemic — and overlapping or unclear time entries for chaperone payments. The administrator said the audit did "find that we did not have the correct documentation in place." The administrator added that when chaperone paperwork submitted for payment is incorrect, "we actually just we kick it back. We don't accept it."
The district described specific corrective steps: requiring parent signatures for every tutoring session, revising signature fields on documentation, adopting a comprehensive time‑change processing policy and training district officials to flag and correct problematic submissions. "We have those things in place," the administrator said, and "hopefully, this should not happen again."
A resident asked whether the district had "lost a $100,000." The administrator replied that a close review showed no fraud: "there was no fraudulent that occurred," and staff could track who provided tutoring. The administrator said the review identified roughly $40,000 in unclear status and smaller amounts that the audit reported; the district did not report disciplinary action against employees based on the audit findings.
Board members acknowledged that news coverage and social media attention had raised concern. The chair said the district would present the findings and corrective steps at the meeting rather than engage in back‑and‑forth on social media so the community could be reassured.
Next steps the district outlined included continuing staff training, stricter administrative review of payroll submissions for chaperone and extra‑duty pay, and making tutorial documentation easier to verify — including a review of whether handwritten forms can be converted to digital records for clarity and tracking. The administrator said those improvements aim to prevent repeat issues identified by the comptroller.
