News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Overton County Director of Schools Donnie Holman said he feels “comfortable” moving forward that he has employed the appropriate workers to answer the system’s audit findings.
A state Comptroller’s Office audit of Overton County for the fiscal year ending 2021 found 10 findings against the school system. Holman said the majority of issues date back to the previous administration.
“I hadn’t been here very long. I’m just guessing here and going to say a couple of weeks, and I had to have a meeting with the auditors,” Holman said. “It was already going, and of course me being the principal at an elementary school, I didn’t realize anything was going on.”
Holman became interim director in January of last year after serving as the Rickman Elementary School Principal. Holman replaced Mark Winningham who was voted out by the Board of Education.
“In just a few days after that, I began hearing of things that needed to be done and needed to be checked into,” Holman said. “It really was a major time consumer.”
Holman said as time progressed, it was evident changes needed to be made to address concerns. In June of last year, Holman transferred former School System Budget Director Heather Melton to a non-budgetary position. She declined and later resigned last year.
“People responsible for the deficiencies within the Comptroller’s Office are no longer employed in the Central Office,” Holman said. “I have taken the necessary steps to employee the appropriate individuals who can efficiently perform all the duties expected of them.”
According to the Comptroller report, Melton received over $19,000 of compensatory pay with little support qualifying the extra pay. The report also sited a missing laptop and several missing flash drives. Holman said the system knows who has possession of the items but was not successful in retrieving them.
Holman said he has meet with every school and central office employee numerous times going over his expectations moving forward. Holman said he clearly expects that the audit for next year will have “vast improvements.”
“The plan is to understand what is expected of us and understand what the auditors want us to do,” Holman said. “All an auditor wants is things to be done fairly and right. That’s what their purpose is. (…) But that’s what I want us to do forward. Know what the rules are and follow them.”
Findings of the school system also included inaccurate financial statements, accounting deficiencies, expenditures exceeding budgeted appropriations and an improperly issued loan.
