An audit of the Dallas County School System shows one elementary school has not documented for more than half of its expenditures.

The Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, which audited the county school system for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 31, 2001, said Five Points Elementary School did not adequately document 65 percent of the school’s expenses. On top of that, the audit says the school’s principal, Gary Crum, assumed the responsibility of receipting and depositing concession revenues from the school.

Once Crum took over that duty, the audit says the school did not make deposits in a timely manner, “and no deposits were made for several months.”

Likewise, the profits from Five Points’ concessions were “below expected amounts and no reasonable justification was provided,” according to the 76-page audit.

One other report against the school said Five Points did not reconcile the bank account with the general ledger.

“We’re going to address this with the principal,” said Wayne May, superintendent of the Dallas County School System. “The exceptions are going to be corrected and the matter will be addressed.”

May, who said he has not spoken with Crum about the latest audit, said he is generally pleased with results from the state.

“Most of what we got was routine as far as audit reports go,” said May.

This is the first audit May has received as superintendent of the school system, and besides the three reports against Five Points, only Southside High School was named as having problems.

According to the audit, Southside had outstanding bills that were not paid.

“This resulted in finance charges and late fees being assessed to the school and the use of a collection agency by at least one vendor,” the report said.

Of major concern to May, and other board members, is the way Five Points — an elementary school located in Orrville — has documented its expenses.

“This was pointed out to us several months ago,” said board member Mark Story. “We were assured that the problems were being addressed.”

According to Crum, the problems have been addressed and corrected.

“Everything in that audit, we addressed it and corrected it in August or September,” said Crum, who is also the pastor of Ellwood Community Church — one of the fastest growing churches in Dallas County with a membership of more than 1,200.

When asked about concession revenues and why they weren’t documented, Crum said the school raised different kinds of money during that time.

“There is a period of the calendar year when we generate other revenue,” Crum said. “For instance, we have a King and Queen fundraiser and that money was used for general fund things like waxing the floor. We have to raise a lot of that money on our own.”

While the school did have fundraisers, Crum did not say where the concession money had gone or why it wasn’t documented. He said concessions are items like pencils or snacks sold to the students. Crum did not give a reason why the school had not deposited money “for several months” from concession sales — a fact the state audit said was disconcerting.

A number of teachers at Five Points declined to be interviewed by the Times-Journal. Some expressed concern about where the money raised by the school had gone, though.

“I hope Mr. Crum has a timely explanation of these findings,” said Cecil Williamson, another school board member. “If he doesn’t, it will be a blemish on his reputation.”

Not the first time

Apparently, Five Points and Crum have had other problems with the finance books.

George Evans, former superintendent of the Dallas County School System, said he likes Crum and Evans said he knew of none of the existing problems when he was superintendent.

However, Evans did say there have been past problems with making payments on time.

“I do remember a couple of times when a company had to call the central office to get bills paid [at Five Points],” Evans said.

Moving Up?

Despite the audit report, Crum apparently has a good reputation among the parents of students in the county school system. The Southside High School principal’s job is vacant and three board members, including Bill Minor, Story and Williamson all said they have received calls requesting Crum be made principal at Southside. One person said a petition has circulated around the community asking that Crum be named the new principal.

Minor has no problem with Crum being named principal at Southside, even though there are irregularities with the audit.

“If the community wants him, then I certainly don’t object,” Minor said. “One of the problems I think Mr. Crum has had at Five Points is adequate help. If he were at Southside, he would have a bookkeeper to help.”

In the county school system, the superintendent has the sole responsibility of presenting candidates for principalships at every school. At the Dallas County School Board’s last meeting, May recommended Pearlie Wright for the principal’s position at Southside. A motion was made for Wright, but that motion was not seconded and her nomination failed.

Williamson and other board members said they would wait on May to present another candidate for the principal’s job at Southside, and neither Williamson nor Story suggested Crum would make a good candidate.

“We need a good, strong leader there,” Story said. “I think the situation with Mr. Crum needs some more investigation. We need to know where the money has gone and how much it is.”

The audit said it could not list how much money was missing from Five Points because records were not adequately kept.

Williamson said May should look at appointing someone from outside the county school system.

“It has to be someone who won’t be subject to the internal pressures in this system,” Williamson said.

May said he has some “very good” applicants for the principal’s job at Southside. He did not confirm, nor deny, if Crum was one of the applicants.