Board picks four for new audit advisory committee after debate over ranking method

The Winston Salem Forsyth County Schools Board of Education on March 5 voted 6–3 to appoint Lee Garrity, David Perdue, Patty Gillenwater and Robert Gaines to the district's new Board of Education audit advisory committee.

Chief Legal Counsel Dion Jenkins outlined the process the board used to evaluate applicants under Policy 30435: the board received 49 applications, asked members to rank their top 10 using a rubric focused on technical experience and audit expertise, and Jenkins presented a color-coded summary showing frequency of appearance in members' top lists.

"You have a copy of the audit policy," Jenkins said, explaining the membership structure: four voting members appointed by the board, three by the Forsyth County Commissioners, plus two nonvoting designees. He told the board he had received six board members' ranked lists and displayed trends based on frequency and top-five placements.

Board members debated whether to convert rankings into a single numeric score that weighted rank and frequency. Some members favored a rank-weighted scoring system to differentiate near ties; others said the top three were clear and suggested focused discussion about the fourth spot. After brief additional review, a motion to appoint Garrity, Perdue, Gillenwater and Gaines carried 6–3.

Public commenters had urged scrutiny of audit procedures and transparency. Former auditor Patty Gillenwater, who also appears on the appointment lists and spoke during public comment, criticized aspects of the external review and urged the board to task the audit committee with close, technical review. "I hope that when you get the audit committee going ... that you have them meet with [consultants] and get everybody to really take their audit expertise and understand what was done, what wasn't done," Gillenwater said during public comment.

Peter Antonacci, a public commenter and candidate for state senate, pressed the board on transparency and offered a searchable ledger database he said would show the $46 million in overspending the state auditor highlighted.

Jenkins told the board the county commissioners will separately appoint three voting members and that the board is expected to notify its selections promptly so the county can finalize its three appointments at its March 19 meeting.

The board's appointments complete the board's four voting seats; the audit advisory committee will advise on audit oversight, internal controls, and financial transparency. The board did not adopt a separate numerical re-ranking method at the meeting but discussed using a rank-frequency weighting for future selections.