ST. CLAIR COUNTY — Some Board of Education members agree with a grand jury request that another audit should be conducted on finances at Ashville High School."I would encourage it," said Scott Suttle, vice chairman of the Board of Education. "If there are any suspicions of any improprieties, we want it uncovered. I want it thoroughly investigated."
Last week, a St. Clair County grand jury indicted former Ashville High bookkeeper Amy Murphree, 36, of Steele on three counts of second-degree forgery and one count of first-degree theft of property.
Authorities allege that Murphree stole more than $60,000 between Oct. 1, 2003, to May 31, 2005.
"The grand jury requests that the St. Clair County Board of Education request an audit by the Alabama Department of Public Examiners or a private entity regarding Ashville High School for the time period of Oct. 1, 1998, to Oct. 1, 2003," the grand jury report states.
Murphree has been employed by Ashville High since 1998.
She was placed on administrative leave by the board, effective July 12, and was subsequently terminated from her employment with the school system at the Sept. 8 board meeting.
Board member Randy Thompson, who represents the Ashville school district, said he has not seen the grand jury report but believes another audit needs to be completed to ensure additional money is not missing.
Board chairman Drew Goolsby said the board has already discussed the possibility of another audit, which would reach further back than the initial audit that sparked Murphree’s arrest.
"We haven’t made any decisions," Goolsby said.
He said board members still haven’t seen the special audit completed by the Alabama Department of Public Examiners office.
Goolsby said that special audit should help board members decide what direction to take in the matter.
He said it was interesting the grand jury felt compelled to recommend that another audit be done at Ashville High for the periods not included in the initial criminal investigation.
"We haven’t seen the information the grand jury has gotten to see," Goolsby said. "If we don’t move forward with an audit, we’ll have a very good reason for it."
Goolsby said what bothers him is why it took so long to discover the possibility that a school board employee was stealing from a school.
"I’m not satisfied as a board member," he said. "We have checks and balances in place, but it broke down. We have to figure out where it broke."
Even before the grand jury report was made available to the public, board member John DeGaris said he believed an audit should be done for the entire time Murphree was employed at Ashville High.
DeGaris said he was not aware of any financial problems at the school until about June when school board members met with state auditors.
"As I understand it, for the most part, we (the board) thought everything was going well in Ashville," DeGaris said. "I’m disappointed that this happened. I guess I thought that somehow or another someone would open up a file cabinet and all this money would fall out — but it never did.
"I don’t have an excuse," DeGaris said. "I’m just as responsible as the next guy, but the information from the board office comes very sparingly."
Board member Terry Green also said an audit covering the period of Oct. 1, 1998, to Oct. 1, 2003, needs to be performed by the Alabama Department of Public Examiners.
"First of all, it’s pure speculation as to why they (the grand jury) asked for another audit," Green said. "Obviously, they think there should be one. I think it would not be very smart on our part not to proceed on that request. … Yes, I think we should do what they have recommended."
He said the big question looming in his mind is, "How did this go on for so long, and we (the board) were not made aware of it?"
Green said he and other board members have many unanswered questions.
"There are still a lot of unanswered questions," Green said. "We need to find those answers, so we can prevent this from happening again."
Board member Terry Brasher was not available for immediate comment.
Board member Pat Noah said she had not received the grand jury report and preferred not to make any comments at this time.
Noah did say there is a board work session at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Central Office, and the grand jury report could be discussed then.
Schools Superintendent Tom Sanders, who was out of town on business, said he had not seen the grand jury report and did not wish to make any comments on the grand jury’s request at this time.
