A report released today by the state auditor’s office accuses a former school district employee in Perry of mishandling thousands of dollars from fundraisers. State Auditor David Vaudt says the special investigation covered selected transactions at Perry High School between July 2005 and November 2007.
Auditors found a former administrative assistant at the school, Lori Norton, mishandled money collected from the sale of athletic shirts and other fundraisers. Norton was placed on administrative leave in October and her contract was not renewed for this school year.
Vaudt says his findings included; checks worth $1,620 were either not deposited or were substituted for other receipts, many checks were recorded for less than the written amount and just under $13,000 could not be accounted for because of insufficient record keeping. Auditors found Norton deposited $2,178 in cash into her personal bank account over the reviewed period, but did not make any cash deposits after she was suspended.
Vaudt says "time and cost restraints" prohibited further investigation and it’s likely auditors would have found more problems with the records. The report has been turned over to the Perry Police Department and Dallas County Attorney’s Office.
You can see the entire report here on the Auditors website .