SOUTH BEND — South Bend school board President Stuart Greene apologized “for the collateral harm” done to community leaders and organizations referred to by name in reference to alleged impropriety on the part of school corp. personnel in the recent Indiana State Board of Accounts audit report from 2022-23.
In his closing remarks during a board meeting on Monday, June 15, Greene referred to a group of local community partners whose organizations have received funding from the district and who attended the previous meeting on May 27 to express their concern about being mentioned in the report.
On May 27, local leader Lynn Coleman addressed the board during the public comment portion of the meeting on behalf of himself and others named in the audit report. When The Tribune contacted him on June 15, he declined to comment.
“For me personally, and I think I can also say for some of the other people that was listed in this document, I think it was totally, totally disrespectful that this document came out,” Coleman said on May 27. “It made it look like we were squandering money from the school corporation, taking money from the school corporation, preventing kids from being able to be served in this community.”
Coleman added that neither he nor the other community members named in the report were contacted by the investigators, SBCSC or the school board to provide their side of the story.
“Most of the people that was on that list have served this community for 25, 30-plus years,” Coleman said, “providing service to the kids, the youth and the educational system in this community.”
He also encouraged the board to reach out with any questions, saying the group would welcome the chance to sit down privately to “try to figure out what we did or did not do to cause this to happen.”
In his closing remarks on May 27, trustee Marcus Ellison said he believes Coleman and others should have received an opportunity to address issues raised in the report prior to its release. And on June 15, Greene added his thoughts on the situation.
The local leaders “are valuable members of our community, and have, in my observation, profoundly added to the educational experience of our children and the community as a whole,” he said. “I cannot speak for the State Board of Accounts and why the writers of the audit report included the names of these city leaders — in the eight years of serving on the board, I have not seen this done.
“Regardless of the reason why, I acknowledge that the publication of names in the audit has given rise to lots of speculation, causing some unintended consequences.”
Greene said the audit’s focus was primarily on the district, rather than its community partners, and its need for more internal controls during the audit period — issues the district has addressed, he said.
Some federal grants SBCSC receives require the district to partner with community groups and organizations, he said, so the fact that payments were made to these groups was not inherently improper.
“The audit report was generated from failures on the part of the corporation,” Greene said. “I apologize for the collateral harm done by the report. This harm would not have occurred but for a failure in our system at the time.
“The lesson has been learned. We have tried to do better and will continue to do so. We need each other; our students need us. So let us move together, forward together, reduce risk of future harm and do what we can do to help our students.”
Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Rayleigh Deaton at rdeaton@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Greene apologizes to local leaders named in South Bend schools audit
Reporting by Rayleigh Deaton, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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By Rayleigh Deaton, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
