Athens City School District Superintendent Thomas Gibbs met with the East Elementary Parent Teacher Organization on Friday afternoon regarding discrepancies between the group’s bank statements and reports from former treasurer Sarah Grace.
After the meeting, Gibbs released a statement saying he did not believe the discrepancy had to be reported to the authorities.
“From the perspective of the Athens City School District, this issue is resolved,” he said in the statement.
The statement said the PTO officers believe they have all the necessary records to bring tax filings up to date and that the discrepancy between the bank statements and Grace’s treasurer reports was caused by “un-cleared (sic) deposits and debts.”
Alex Couladis, a local CPA who helped the PTO look over the records in September, said he was satisfied with the district's conclusion. He said Grace sometimes recorded funds in the treasurer's report and didn't deposit the checks until the next month. After adding those late deposits, the PTO board will be able to make up the discrepancy.
"When you file a report at the end of the month, if it doesn't equal the cash balance, you need to say that checks haven't cleared," Couladis said. "There needs to be a little more information."
Couladis said issues came up in the treasurer's report that went back beyond Grace's term as treasurer. He said this happened because a mistake made in one month can throw off the accuracy of reports in the following months.
"If it's wrong in June, it's going to be wrong in July," he said.
Nathan Cotton, the campaign manager for Grace’s state representative bid, said the campaign was glad to be moving forward.
“The statement confirms what we’ve known the whole time,” Cotton said. “Although there may have been a miscommunication in the transition, there was no criminal activity or misuse of funds.”
Cotton said the campaign felt the issue could have been resolved months ago if the PTO board had gone directly to Grace with their problems.
There is still no indication that Grace filed the 990 postcard, which helps the PTO keep its tax-exempt status, to the IRS for 2014 fiscal year. Couladis said the treasurer should have received a confirmation email from the IRS if the 990 form went through. He also said the current PTO board is working on the 990 postcard for the 2015 financial year, which ended in July 2016.
The PTO will adjust its accounting practices going forward, according to the statement, to prevent a similar situation in the future.
“I am uncertain as to why these records were not provided to or accessible to the current officers in a more-timely (sic) fashion,” Gibbs said in the statement.
