The New York State comptroller announced the Locust Valley school district did not keep accurate IT records during its municipal and school audits.
Thomas DiNapoli’s report found that 68% of all devices assessed in the district were not properly accounted for in the IT directors’ system. The report said there would be no way of knowing if a device went missing, was stolen or safeguarded.
The audit period covered 2022 to January 2024 and assessed the 52 new IT assets the district purchased during that time frame as well as 20 additional assets found on the department’s walk through. The audit found 49 out of 72 devices assessed, with a total purchase price at over $56,000, could not be properly accounted for. The report said the district had an insufficient tracking system that often left out key identifying information for IT assets, including the purchase date or price of any of the district’s 3,993 assets.
The assets include printers, desktop computers, Chromebooks, laptops and other equipment.
Another point of contention in the report found that over 1,100 assets had no record of who a device was assigned to. According to Locust Valley’s tracking system, the district had 816 Chromebooks not assigned to a student or faculty member.
The Locust Valley IT manager said in the report he “relied on staff to maintain the inventory” and “that his knowledge of the inventory software system was not sufficient.”
The comptroller’s report offered the district and the Locust Valley Board of Education recommendations to improve their IT tracking system to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent correctly. The comptroller’s office suggested the board adopt a new and comprehensive policy to track IT assets. They also recommended the IT department complete a full assets inventory, something that has not been done over the last five years. Instead, three partial inventories have been conducted since September 2021.
