School plans reply to audit
Kailua High will take steps to address faults with its finances and overall management
The Department of Education says it will have an answer from Kailua High School by mid-November about how the school will address operational problems noted in a recent state auditor's report.
The response should outline specifically what steps Kailua High will take to improve its finances and overall management, which were faulted in a critical audit of the school last month. The report could also have system-wide implications to all island schools trying to adjust to the Reinventing Education Act, a 2004 law aimed at giving individual schools greater budget and spending autonomy.
"The school needs to put into place systems and then track it, monitor it," schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto said yesterday. "Other things are beyond them, it's something that the system needs to look at on how we do our regulations."
State auditor Marion Higa wrote last month that the school's financial habits led to an inability to account for $500,000 in equipment and funds, particularly money raised by its athletic department. It also noted that past practices could impede improvements to the school's management.
Meanwhile, Board of Education member Darwin Ching said yesterday he is still waiting for an answer from the Honolulu Police Department as to whether they will launch a criminal investigation of practices at Kailua High.
"It is to the point where they are not responding and nobody seems to care," said Ching, who asked for the investigation in an Oct. 10 letter. "Unless we get some deterrent ... some kind of enforcement, nothing is going to happen."
Ching said the board has been considering placing 20 business managers to make sure schools stay on top of their finances.
"It's such a big, big organization that there's no way you can keep track," he said.
Hamamoto* said she believes the problems highlighted in the audit could be fixed with more management training of school staff. She said the report being prepared by Kailua High will be presented to the board before it is made public next month.
CORRECTION
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
» State schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto says staff training could improve management of Kailua High School. A Page A17 article Sunday incorrectly attributed the remark to state Auditor Marion Higa.
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