UPDATE: IRSD officials respond to audit report

chief financial officer – and the district itself. yesterday — the delaware state auditor released findings from a months-long probe into the district’s finances. and today — school officials invited members of the media to a briefing — diving into exactly what the district plans to do now. 47 a-b-c’s lili zheng was at that press conference — and joins us live from the studio. lili — emily — we’re told the state auditor looked at the district’s finances over the course of five years for this report. that’s about — seven-hundred million dollars. now — district officials are holding strong to their track record of being as they described open and honest. up until now — they’ve never had a single audit report indicating any issues. while they are willing to make changes — they do say there are some points from the auditor’s report they don’t agree with. track 1 superintendent dr. susan bunting says — there was never any indication finances were being handled inaccurately through the indian river school district. finances — between 20-12 and 20-16 — under the eye of their former chief financial advisor patrick miller. 09:24:12 he’s been working in the district for nearly 20 years. the board had established great trust in him 19 track 2 a report from the delaware state auditor — released thursday — comes after months of a special investigation into the school district’s finances. one thing they found — was big purchases allegedly made by miller — using the school district’s money. for example — splurging on a teacher of the year award ceremony — and hosting it at baywood greens for 7-thousand dollars. assistant superintendent mark steele — says they immediately took action and self-reported after complaints of financial misconduct. 09:24:50 at the same time, we had information that was passed on to some board members that paralleled at the same time and when that happened, that’s when people came forward to say we have some issues that we need to look into 02 track 3 even with this audit — school officials admit there are purchases deemed inappropriate they don’t agree with. for example — a tiffany’s bracelet purchased for dr. bunting in recognition of being a finalist for the 20-12 national school superintendent. at a press conference friday — charles bireley — president of the indian river board of education — says at the time — he thought the money for the gift came through a grant. 09:30:54 to us, it was a small amount to give to herself like that. so i certainly agree with it 00 track 4 moving forward — dr. bunting says they will implement a number of fiscal management practices. for example — no direct payments made to an organization on behalf of any community leader. and — no food purchases by administrative staff made with district funds — unless it is for student instructional purposes. 09:33:29 we will correct the errors according to what have been deemed errors by the auditor’s office, but we will move forward 36 track 5 steele adds — the biggest takeaways from this incident — the need for more oversight and implementation of policies. this news comes — just days before the school district is expected to host an