An audit the state Comptroller’s Office released Friday found that the Batavia City School District lost 229 staff computers and 62 tablets, paying about $17,000 in service fees for those missing devices in 2021-22.
“District officials did not appropriately track and inventory IT (information technology) equipment,” the comptroller’s report said.
District officials did not have a comprehensive written policy for establishing and maintaining IT equipment inventory. They did not complete an accurate IT equipment inventory or perform an annual physical inventory, the report said.
Batavia Superintendent Jason Smith said he and the administration take full responsibility for these mistakes and are taking measures to correct the situation.
The audit covered July 1, 2018, to Feb. 8, 2022.
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli made three recommendations in the report, saying Batavia should:
n adopt a comprehensive written policy for establishing and maintaining controls to appropriately track and inventory IT equipment;
n maintain a complete, comprehensive inventory list and perform an annual physical inventory;
n reconcile the BOCES-owned inventory list and remove and/or return devices that were not in service.
Smith said since he arrived in the district in early 2022, he has been brought up to speed with its current issues.
“I take the findings in this report very seriously. The administration and … are taking appropriate corrective action steps to mitigate the problem and ensure a comprehensive policy is followed going forward,” he said.
“We have engaged a third-party company specializing in IT services to conduct an assessment of our entire IT department, including our inventory and staff,” he said in a statement issued Friday afternoon. “Our internal team has taken the results from the audit and gone above and beyond to reduce our BOCES service charges by purging and returning unused inventory.”
Smith said the district is working closely with the Board of Education to adopt a comprehensive written policy for establishing and maintaining controls to track and inventory our IT equipment.
“While there is no excuse for the results found during this audit, we do recognize that the turnover in BCSD administration and our IT department since 2019 contributed to and compounded our IT management issues,” he said. “Once we have completed the assessment from the third-party company, we will plan to implement their recommendations across the district. As a result of this audit, one of my top priorities is to return our IT department to good standing and set our team up with a process to ensure these mistakes don’t occur in the future.”
NYs Comptroller’s audit of Batavia City School District by Watertown Daily Times on Scribd
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