Corrective action plan discussed in response to Title I audit in Sayreville

SAYREVILLE – A corrective action plan is being prepared in the Sayreville School District following an Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Title I audit.

The ESSA is a federal law intended to provide all students with a quality education and close achievement gaps. Title I refers to measures for improving basic programs operated by state and local educational agencies.

The audit was discussed at a Board of Education meeting on April 7. Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Marilyn Shediack informed board members that the audit was initiated by the state in January to inspect the district’s Title I spending. The state previously monitored the district’s Title I spending about eight years ago.

According to Shediack, five findings were made in the audit. Shediack said she and Business Administrator Erin Hill will prepare a corrective action plan in response to the findings, which is scheduled to appear before the board for approval on May 5.

“The first one was that we overpaid one of our teachers by $183,” the assistant superintendent said. “We will have to refund that money to the state.

“Our teachers who are paid with Title I funds are required to do time and activity sheets for all the work they do. We’ve always had them do time and activity sheets, [but the state] was not thrilled with the current ones we’re using. They have recommendations for us to use different ones.

“The third finding was our board policies, particularly as they related to internal controls,” she continued. “They want us to update a few of the board policies.

“We had one set of purchase orders that were actually confirming orders when we had teachers doing tutoring work with their students and they did the work before the purchase order was actually approved.

“With our invitations to parent involvement activities, they approved all the parent involvement activities, but they wanted our invitations to include more information about the Title I program.”

Despite the findings, Shediack stated that the administration was satisfied with the results.

“All in all, we were pleased with the audit,” Shediack said. “You would prefer not to have any recommendations, but these were all things that are very fixable and we look upon it as an opportunity to improve the way we’re doing things.”

Board President Anthony Esposito also spoke positively of the audit.

“They [the state] spent almost 3 full weeks doing this audit and if that’s all they found, I think you guys are doing a heck of a job,” Esposito said.