Manatee School Board to hold special audit meeting Thursday

The Manatee County School Board will hold a special meeting Thursday to allow the public, the school board and its audit committee members to ask questions to Navigant and Trenam Kemper officials concerning the recent release of a forensic audit of the school district’s finances.

The 5:45 p.m. meeting will be held in the Manatee County Commission Chambers located on the first floor of the Manatee County Administrative Building at 1112 Manatee Avenue West.

Navigant employees expalned their 200-page-plus audit report, an investigation into the district’s $3.4 million deficit in 2011-12, to the public for the first time at a Jan. 14 workshop.

That report blamed former Assistant Superintendent Jim Drake and flawed processes for many of the accounting errors that led to the budget shortfall.

Former superintendent Tim McGonegal, who resigned in September, was hands-off with budget, handing off most of the responsibility to Drake, the report said.

On Feb. 1, the district posted more than 16,000 pages of supporting documents related to the report on its website.

The Thursday meetibng will be broadcast live via Manatee Government Access (MGA) which can be seen locally on Bright House channel 622, Verizon channel 30 and Comcast channel 20. A live stream can also be seen at www.mymanatee.org/mga.

While questions will be taken from the audience at the meeting, the public can submit questions in advance by going to the school district’s website at www.manateeschools.net.

Look under “Hot Topics” and click on the email link to: [email protected].

Submit your email, and it will be forwarded to school board members prior to the meeting.

The meeting comes a day after the district will choose its new superintendent.