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December 6, 2007

DiNAPOLI: KIPP IMPLEMENTS ADDITIONAL INTERNAL CONTROLS
AS A RESULT OF AUDIT
School Paid for Staff Retreats to the Caribbean

Kipp Academy Charter School in the Bronx paid $67,951 for staff trips to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas, according to an audit released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. While the school had an operating surplus in 2006, the audit also found several deficiencies in the school’s internal controls.

“Having surplus funds is no excuse to spend taxpayer dollars on trips to the Caribbean,” DiNapoli said. “Money intended for education should be spent on education. Staff retreats are an important tool that can lead to enhanced educational settings for students. But there are lots of places for retreats right here in New York State that are closer to the Bronx than the Bahamas.”

Auditors discovered the school paid $67,951 to send 21 staff members to the Dominican Republic in June 2005 for five days and 49 staff members to the Bahamas in June 2006 for five days. Auditors could not determine if the trips were educational in nature because there was little documentation supporting this claim and no documentation of Board’s approval for the trips. The trips cost about $1,119 and $907 per person respectively and included airfare, hotel, meals and other amenities such as alcoholic beverages.

Under the state law that authorized the creation of charter schools, all funds provided to charter schools by the state should be reasonable, necessary and directly related to school operations. School officials contend that donated funds were used to finance the trips. However, auditors could not determine if this was the case because donated funds were not accounted for separately from state aid.

The audit found the school had accumulated a $4.1 million operating surplus as of June 30, 2006 but also identified several weaknesses in its internal controls including:

*lack of documentation of criminal background checks for seven employees at the school;
*an unclear policy regarding the competitive bidding process that resulted in the awarding of four contracts
totaling in $181,584 without the benefit of competition;
*no written policies and procedures to determine and approve salary increases;
*missing or incomplete overtime records;
*no system to track employees’ sick or personal leave accruals; and
*no written policies and procedures or Board approval for employee bonus and stipend pay.

The audit recommends that school officials:

*develop a system to separately account for state and donated funds;
*fully document the educational nature of off-site staff retreats and conferences;
*obtain written Board approval for staff retreats and conferences;
*ensure all new employees have the required criminal background check;
*include in procurement guidelines the dollar levels that require competitive bidding;
*develop written policies and procedures for authorizing salary increases;
*ensure overtime payments are documented and processed correctly; and
*maintain accurate records of employees’ leave accruals.

While school officials implemented several of the audit’s recommendations to strengthen internal controls and hired a human resources manager, school officials indicated they intended to plan future staff retreats overseas but would better document the educational purposes of the trips.

To view the audit, visit: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093008/06n15.pdf.

School District Accountability
In order to improve accountability of the state’s schools, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office will audit all of New York’s 832 school districts, Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) and charter schools by 2010. The State Comptroller’s office has completed more than 310 school audits and approximately 220 audits are currently underway.

Charter School Under Fire For Exotic Teacher Trips
Did Public Pay For Staff Vacations To The Caribbean?
Andrew Kirtzman, Reporting, BRONX (CBS)

Questions are surfacing about the actions of a charter school in the Bronx. Dozens of teachers and staffers have been sunning at hotels in the Caribbean. But who is paying for this?

The Radisson Cable Beach in Nassau is an idyllic get-away, with three pools, a golf course and a 24-hour casino.

But why is a charter school in the Bronx paying dozens of teachers and supervisors to relax there?

"It's a time for the staff to plan, both reflect on the year that passed and plan for the coming year," Kipp Academy superintendent David Levin said.

But state comptroller Tom DiNapoli isn't so sure. He's released an audit slamming the school for sending 49 employees to the resort last year, and 21 employees to the Dominican Republic the year before.

The academy claims these were staff retreats, but some parents are puzzled.

"The kids in the eighth grade, they take exams to get them ready for high school," said parent Michelle Manon. "A lot of them aren't ready for that. The money can go towards that."

Charter schools are funded by taxpayers, but the school chief claims the public didn't pay for the trips.

"There were no public funds spent for these purposes, and only private dollars that were allocated were spent for these purposes," Levin said.

However, state auditors said:

"...we could not determine whether the trips were, in fact, paid for with donated funds."

They added: "It is unclear why staff would need to go out of the country to have informal conversations."

That's a question that's occurred to some students.

"We have a bad neighborhood and it doesn't seem right for the teachers to go off to the Caribbean when we don't even live in a nice environment," eighth-grader Christelle Manon said.

While the school has rejected the most serious charges, it has agreed to tighten up its bookkeeping. The comptroller says he's watching closely.

The audit says the school has spent nearly $70,000 on the Caribbean outings in the last two years.

Robin Hood: Targeting Poverty in New York City

FUROR OVER 'CLASS' TRIP - TO BAHAMAS
By JULIA DAHL and YOAV GONEN, NY POST

December 7, 2007 -- Forget the three R's, staffers at a high-performing Bronx charter school spent nearly $70,000 on the three S's - sun, sand and surf.
A state audit yesterday slapped the KIPP Academy for failing to explain how it paid for staff retreats to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas that apparently had no educational purpose.

Although officials at the charter school told auditors the trips in 2005 and 2006 were funded by surplus funds from private and not public sources, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said documentation was lacking to support those claims.

"Having surplus funds is no excuse to spend taxpayer dollars on trips to the Caribbean," DiNapoli said. "Money intended for education should be spent on education."

Charter schools are publicly funded but face less oversight from local school districts in exchange for meeting strict academic markers set out in five-year contracts.

KIPP, one of 52 schools nationwide run by the Knowledge Is Power Program, sent 49 staffers on a five-day trip to the Dominican Republic in June 2005 and 21 staffers on a five-day trip to the Bahamas in June 2006.

The school serves about 250 kids in the fifth through eighth grades.

The all-inclusive trips - covering airfare, hotel, food and booze - ran as high as $1,119 per person, the report said.

KIPP founder Dave Levin, who as superintendent of the academy attended the Bahamas retreat, called the trips essential to motivating teachers to work the extra Saturdays and extended hours demanded by the school.

He said brainstorming sessions led to substantive changes in teaching, and reiterated that the summer getaways were paid for with private, unrestricted funds.

"We view every minute [of the trips] as educational because we're building interpersonal relationships that are essential to the type of effort we require of teachers," he told The Post.

Math teacher Frank Corcoran, who attended a foray this year to the Dominican Republic, said formal meetings made up about 40 percent of the trip, but informal school-related chats dominated the spare time.

"So it feels like work even though people are walking around in swim trunks," he said. "Everyone comes out feeling motivated and pumped up, whereas at the end of the school year you're just burned out."

yoav.gonen@nypost.com