OPA: $31K worth Hopwood Jr. HS equipment missing
Over $31,000 worth of electronic assets listed for the Hopwood Junior High School have become unaccounted for and are now missing from the school premises, according to a report from the Office of the Public Auditor.
Public Auditor Leo L. LaMotte blamed the incident to the failure by the Public School System to institute policies and procedures that would have established a complete system of property management accountability.
Mr. LaMotte said the System also failed to conduct an annual physical inventory of property at PSS schools. “PSS Procurement officials disregarded applicable CNMI policies and procedures. Some PSS facilities are not physically secure.”
OPA said Hopwood Jr. High School, which had been the subject of a limited test count of inventory from February to June 1999, was deemed to be fairly representative of the PSS system as a whole in terms of property control.
PSS records disclosed that Hopwood Jr. High School was listed as having 441 tagged pieces of property, mostly electronic items. But OPA test counted 468 pieces of mostly electronic items at the school.
The difference of 27 items may have come from other PSS facilities and no formal documentation was made to record the receipt of these additional items, said the OPA report.
OPA said at least 166 of these items were not on record, adding that 302 items on record should have been at the school at the time of the inventory. Of the 302 items, 121 could not be located.
Based on PSS records, the purchase value of the 47 unlocated items amounted to $31,413 while the purchase value of the 74 other unlocated items could not be determined because of insufficient inventory record information, OPA said.
The audit also disclosed that 80 of the 154 items tagged with a property control number were found to be in the possession of an individual other than the custodian of record, leaving only 27 items in the possession of the responsible employee.
“The names reflected in the tagged property master file for much of the remainder were individuals who had been terminated, transferred to another PSS school, retired or were deceased,” the report added.
To correct the problem, OPA has asked Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos to enforce compliance with the CNMI property management and accountability policy without exception, adding that physical inventory of all fixed assets should be taken every year.
Ms. Inos was also instructed to direct the PSS Procurement Officer to develop additional policies and procedures suitable to the needs and requirements of PSS operations.
These policies and procedures should include a system of accountability in which the principal or program head is made responsible for all property issued to the facility.
OPA also urged the PSS chief to direct the System’s maintenance office to install additional security like deadbolt locks and security cameras or other measures as needed at all PSS schools.
The audit investigation of Hopwood Junior High School came after a teacher in July 1996 wrote the OPA regarding operation of the school, alleging that assets, especially those classified under the Property and Equipment account such as computers, were missing from the school premises.
