HARRISBURG, Pa.- The Auditor General’s office released a new report on Tuesday revealing issues in the Harrisburg School District, and that includes problems with the schools’ healthcare workers.
The report shows the issues happened during distinct periods up to the 2013-2014 school year. Unlicensed healthcare aides were treating kids in the schools, in jobs that included responsibilities of giving out flu shots and medication.
“Without the healthcare license, and the appropriate training that goes with it, unlicensed aides have a greater risk of making mistakes,” says Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. “It’s why we require the licensing in the first place to make sure that people have the appropriate training.”
The school district says all of the findings in the report have already been remedied, string the district’s receivership.
The superintendent says there’s now a tracking system in place to make sure healthcare aides are certified.
“So did someone drop the ball? Absolutely,” says Dr. Sybil Knight-Burney. “But going forward we have a system in place.”
The audit also shows the district lost more than $1 million between 2010 to 2014- in its cafeteria system.
Because of the district's financial problems, all of its students qualify for free and reduced lunches. But the district didn't keep track of meals, and sometimes didn't even staff the cash registers. DePasquale called it "total chaos."
"The kids were eligible for the free lunch anyway, but it hurt the district because they're not able without the tracking to get the reimbursements from the federal government," he says.
He says the amount of money lost in the cafeteria and the apparent extra food being taken also reveals a larger problem.
"A lot of kids in harrisburg, they're just hungry," DePasquale says. "And there's no guarantee they're going to get a good meal at night."
The district's business administrator says an outside vendor now handles the cafeteria.
"There's no doubt in my mind, the first couple months have shown that our revenues exceed our expenditures," says William Gretton.
