FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools will have yet another interim superintendent before they find a permanent replacement for former Superintendent Tricia McManus.
Interim Superintendent Catty Moore’s last day is scheduled for Nov. 30.
This will happen as the district is still working to deal with the previous year’s fiscal year deficit, which is now roughly $37 million.
The initial plan had been to find someone to fill the permanent position this December. Now, the board has decided to extend the search.
Board Chair Deanna Kaplan said the idea to extend it came after meeting with their contracted partner, Summit Search Solutions. After a discussion among the board, they agreed and will employ help from the North Carolina State Board of Education to help find an interim superintendent, so we can now expect the spring semester to be under different leadership than the fall.
The deficit update stems from payments made.
“We made $1.1 million in payments to ESS. We made the $7.9 million to DPI, so our revised deficit estimate is … just over $37 million. That figure will be finalized after we get the 24-25 audit,” Moore said.
But that’s not so easy either.
There is now the issue of overlapping audits.
The North Carolina Office of the State Auditor asked the NCSBoE to mandate a forensic audit, and the state auditor’s report found no evidence of fraud, embezzlement or anything criminal, but the state auditor wants a very deep and detailed audit.
The district was already contracted to have its annual audit before Dec. 31. The state board has now mandated the district come back to Raleigh for a Nov. 4 meeting and present its audit and plan to repay the remaining $3.4 million in state debt.
Now, the contracted company, Forvis Mazars, has sent over a new contract and agreed to give as much as they can before that date, including a full update to the WS/FCS board during their Oct. 28 meeting.
Now, they say they cannot finish their report until the audit the state ordered is complete, so they can review that, too. That could mean a bit of déjà vu.
“If they’re changing the due date, based when it is due according to the LGC and the state board, it means potentially the final audit report that we are looking for in October or November is now sometime in the spring, and we did that last year,” Moore said.
Moore also said they are still working with the IRS to get final numbers on what the district could owe the federal agency.
She said they had a phone call as recently as Monday in which the IRS asked for more documentation.
The reduction in force was reduced by 46 jobs, affecting 222 people who will work their last day on Friday.
Those reductions were made by some people resigning and by taking a different approach with an allotment, according to Moore, which resulted in some late notices for people whose jobs were affected.
Source: Fox 8 News Channel
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