FAYETTEVILLE – Questions and concerns regarding Lawrence County Independent School’s finances were raised during Thursday’s meeting of the school’s board of trustees, leading board president Eric Johnson to announce that some LCIS employees had been placed on paid administrative leave as an investigation into the matter proceeds.
Johnson read a statement during the meeting, which said an investigation was underway after reports of financial mismanagement in January and preliminary findings did not appear to show any financial mismanagement.
“In January 2023, Lawrence County Independent Schools received reports alleging financial mismanagement. Due to the seriousness of these allegations, LCIS has initiated an independent investigation of systems to determine if any wrongdoing occurred. While the investigation remains ongoing, the board has received preliminary notice from the investigator that it does not appear any financial mismanagement occurred. The LCIS Board welcomes the scrutiny of its families and the community and is always endeavoring to ensure we are providing the best services possible to our students and families,” he said in his formal statement on the matter.
LCIS Director of Finance and Business Trisha Turner, who was one of those placed on administrative leave, spoke at the meeting, seeking more transparency and communication from the board regarding this matter.
Turner, who said she has been on paid administrative leave for over 30 days, said she only learned of the preliminary results after Johnson had released a statement to local media earlier in the week.
“I would like to challenge the LCIS board to do better in communicating with their employees. Because I feel like this has been poorly managed from the very beginning. The employees that were placed on administrative leave have been treated unfairly. They have been treated with zero respect and zero integrity from the board and administration and I’m disappointed,” she said. “So I would like to encourage you to do better. To stop wasting the public’s money by leaving me at home and let me get back to work.”
When questioned by an audience member about how many employees were placed on leave as a result of the investigation, Johnson said he was unable to provide a specific number or the names of the individual employees. He went on to say that the decision to place employees on leave was made in an executive session under the advisement of legal counsel.
When Johnson was later asked by a member of the audience why the decision to place employees on administrative leave was not voted on by members of the board, he said he was unable to answer the question.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have an answer for you,” Johnson said in response to the question.
Earlier in the meeting, a member of the school’s Parent Teacher Organization asked the board about the current status of funds raised previously for different efforts.
She claimed that the money generated by last year’s Valentine’s Day Dance at the school was meant to fund the event for 2023, but PTO were not able to locate those funds, leaving members to have to fund the event out of their own pockets.
She also said that money paid to the school for concession at sporting events through Venmo had not been made available to them and asked about the status of those funds, as well as the money raised from the school’s second Playground Palooza event, saying she was unaware of what had been done with it to this point.
Johnson said he was unable to answer such questions at the meeting and would need time to gather information that he could provide to the PTO at a later date.
