I am appalled to see that people in Roslyn school district have actually done such a thing. Dr. Tassone , Ms. Gluckin and the rest of the people involved in this mess should go to jail for a long time and apologize for what they have done. The audit showed $11.2 million was looted from the taxpayers, money which could have gone to things like school books, teacher salaries, school supplies, etc…

The school district in question has a great academic record though. 95% of the high school students in that affluent area graduate and go onto college. They also teach foreign languages at a young age as well which is something that I like.

A full gigantic list of stuff was wound up being paid by the taxpayers in that area. Things included cable bills, jewelry, travel expenses, cars, food, and a massive amount spent on credit cards just to name a few. They stole the money by giving bonuses to people who had control over the spending which helped them to do all of the looting that they did. Bills got paid through district checks, but the fraud detection of the financial software the school district used was never activated. They shifted from account to account to loot as much money as possible.

The school district even had an early warning sign but never did anything to follow up on it. Ms. Gluckin had taken $223,000 a few years ago, was told to pay it all back and then leave. This news should have been reported to some local newspaper, but it never did happen. The school board dropped the ball big time on this.

I hope the school district can recoup all of the losses it has racked up.

SOURCES

O’Donnell, Michelle”Formula for Fleecing a School District? Spreading Cash Around, Audit Says” New York Times(2005) n. pag. Online. Internet. March 3, 2005
Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/03/nyregion/03audit.html?oref=login

Lambert, Bruce, Patrick O’Gilfoil Healy, & David M. Herszenhorn “Audit Describes 8 Years of Looting by L.I. School Officials” New York Times (2005) n. pag. Online. Internet. March 3, 2005
Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/03/nyregion/03roslyn.html