Haverhill Superintendent of Schools James F. Scully.
Haverhill police have been asked to investigate an alleged “irregularity” involving a Haverhill Public Schools account for student activities at the high school.
According to Haverhill Superintendent of Schools James F. Scully, an unnamed department employee was placed on paid administrative leave Thursday while the matter was referred to Haverhill police, who began an investigation Friday. He told WHAV Monday “a routine practice” was followed after there appeared to have been “an error or misjudge ment on someone’s part.”
“When get notified or alerted of such actions, what we normally do is employ an outside audit team which has a fraud unit attached to it,” Scully said. “And we’ll review all accounts whenever such a transgression occurs. In this case, it’ll be all accounts at Haverhill High School.”
Scully would not comment as to how the “irregularity” was discovered, but he said it is not the first time the school department has faced such an event and it “will deal with it.”
“It’s unfortunate that these things happen but they do. And people, for whatever reason, don’t use proper judgment and make decisions that they shouldn’t make. And as a result, we have to deal with them,” Scully said.
“Please be advised that yesterday an irregularity was discovered in the student activity account at Haverhill High School,” Scully said Friday in a letter to Haverhill school committee members. “The employee involved was immediately placed on paid administrative leave. I have arranged for an independent audit firm to review accounts and signatories for all Haverhill High School accounts.”
Scully said a dollar amount involved was unknown pending a completed review of the high school accounts. A Haverhill police spokesperson was unavailable for comment.
I remember Haverhill tried to drag a teacher through the mud in court, yet he was found innocent. They put his name and photo on the front page of the Tribune. How come this person is anonymous?