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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Criminal probe of Kailua High requested

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

CRITICAL AUDIT

  • Almost half of Kailua High's $2 million inventory "may be fictitious" as school staff do not have clear responsibility for oversight of the assets.

  • About $500,000 worth of equipment could not be located.

  • Teachers do not cooperate in keeping track of equipment, and that requirement is not enforced.

  • The administration of $200,000 in nonappropriated funds is casual.

  • Money raised for athletics is co-mingled with personal funds, and thousands of dollars collected for student activities are not deposited in a bank for days.

  • Monetary donations are recorded in unrestricted accounts rather than in trust accounts.

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    A Board of Education member is asking Honolulu police and the city prosecutor's office to conduct a criminal investigation of fiscal management practices at Kailua High that were cited in a critical audit of the school.

    Darwin L.D. Ching, seeking re-election to a four-year term as an O'ahu at-large member of the Board of Education, sent letters on Oct. 10 to Chris Van Marter, supervisor of the Honolulu prosecuting attorney's white-collar crime unit, and police Chief Boisse Correa asking them to investigate concerns raised in a September legislative auditor's report of the high school.

    Ching yesterday said he is acting independently of the board.

    "I believe I have a fiduciary duty to make this request," said Ching, an attorney who headed the white-collar crime unit under former city prosecutor Charles Marsland.

    "The actions of a few have been allowed to go unchecked due to a lack of consequences by a nonresponsive bureaucracy and system even the Department of Education's superintendent cannot rein in," Ching said.

    The audit noted several problems, saying almost half of Kailua High's $2 million inventory "may be fictitious" as school staff do not have clear responsibility for oversight of the assets. It also said about $500,000 worth of equipment could not be located. It said the administration of $200,000 in nonappropriated funds is casual.

    Clayton Fujie, deputy superintendent of education, said the department is following procedure in regard to the audit's findings.

    "The school has been working to rectify it, and if they are not following the process, we have to make sure they do," Fujie said.

    The deputy added there's an internal process to deal with any criminal wrongdoings at public schools, which involves an investigation and submitting findings to the state attorney general.

    State Attorney General Mark Bennett's office did not return calls requesting comment on Ching's push for an investigation.

    In the first-ever audit of a public school, state Auditor Marion Higa released a highly critical review of Kailua High's fiscal management, stating the principal has placed "low priority" on maintaining adequate financial records and accounting and relied exclusively on clerical business office staff to manage the school's $10 million operations and $2 million inventory.

    Ching sent copies of his letter requesting an investigation to all Board of Education members, schools superintendent Patricia Hamamoto, Gov. Linda Lingle, the state attorney general's criminal division and news media.

    Ching said he did not act through the board because "not all the board would agree with this" and that he didn't approach Bennett because "the AG represents the board and I thought there would be a conflict."

    "We're talking about consequences and accountability," Ching said. "People (at schools) think, 'Nothing's going to happen to us so why should we sweat it?' I want to raise awareness that there are consequences. ... There has to be a criminal investigation to show there is a deterrent."

    Ching has not formally received a response from Van Marter or Correa.

    Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.