22 Jan Auditor General Wants Answers on Scranton Schools IT

In response to a request by several Scranton School Board members, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale today said he will follow up on his previous audit’s findings involving the district’s troubled IT department.

DePasquale issued a scathing 107-page audit of the district in October 2017 that included, among numerous other serious issues, findings involving lax oversight of IT inventory control and records.

“My audit contained four recommendations to improve IT inventory controls and to reduce the risk of loss, theft, and misuse,” DePasquale said. “We’ve heard that the district never performed its own promised audit of the IT department, so I’m officially asking for a report on which of my recommendations have been adopted.”

In a new letter to school district officials, DePasquale requested detailed responses to seven questions involving its current IT inventory policies and procedures.

“It’s been 15 months since my audit report, and local taxpayers deserve to know whether the school district has done anything to resolve this problem,” DePasquale added. “From all appearances, the district doesn’t seem to think it should be held accountable for its use of taxpayer resources.”

In December, the school board tabled a motion to ask DePasquale to audit the district’s IT department. In response, the dissenting board members – Katie Gilmartin, Mark McAndrew and Tom Schuster – wrote as private citizens to ask DePasquale to step in.

On Wednesday this week, Auditor General DePasquale will hold a town hall meeting in Scranton to discuss ways to improve public education.