001Miss Barton, thanks for beginning the recording. The time is now 6:01 p.m. I would like to call to order the May 5th, 2025 board audit committee meeting. Welcome everyone. My name is Dr. Tiffany Ander, chair of this committee and district 1 board member. The primary purpose of the Prince George's County Board of Education Audit Committee is to provide oversight of of the financial reporting process, the audit process, the Prince George's County Public School System of Internal Controls and Compliance with Laws and Regulations. Welcome to our committee members and any other board of education members. Also, I would like to welcome members of the administration and special guests. We'll now have introductions starting in this order. Board members, administrative staff, board office staff, and all other guests. Good evening. I'm Pamela Boozer Stru, vice chair of
002the committee, and District 3 board of education member. Good evening. I'm Amy Olivo, um, District 4 Board of Education member and not yet a member of any committee. Good evening. I'm Brandon Jackson, chairman of the Prince George County Board of Education, District 6 representative. Thank you. Good evening. I am Mia Barton, board administrative staff. Uh, good evening. I'm Dr. Christy Murphy Bowwin, chief of human resources. Miss Thorps. Thank you. Um, good evening everyone. My name is Dina Thorps. I am the new director of internal audit for PGCPS with Adley. Oh, I guess it's only me. Hi everyone. Cindy Adlin, interim director, board of education office. Thank you everyone and welcome to this evening's meeting. Miss Barton, could you please call the role? Absolutely. Dr. Tiffany Anderhold, present. Miss Pam Leather, present. Miss Robin Brown, Mr.
003Brandon Jackson, here. Mr. Jamal Jungo. We have three present. Thank you. A quorum is present. The question is to Oh, apologies. One second. Yes, Miss Barton, we can move into the adoption of the agenda. Correct. Yes. Okay, perfect. The question is to adopt the May 5th, 2025 board audit committee meeting board audit committee meeting agenda without objection. There being no objection, the May 5th, 2025 board audit committee meeting agenda has been adopted. The question is to approve the February 3rd, 2025 and March 3rd, 2025 board audit committee meeting meeting minutes without objection. There being no objection, the February 3rd, 2025 and March 3rd, 2025 board audit committee meeting minutes have been approved. We'll now move to public comment. There are zero registered public comment speakers for this evening. We'll now move to the next agenda
004item. There any discussion or action items? Hearing none, we'll move to um the next agenda item 3.1, Prince George's County Public Schools and the role of the Office of Legislative Audits. Actually, I apologize. Can I go back to one? Can I go back one, Miss Barton? I'd actually like to take this time before we get into um this agenda item to recognize and formally introduce um Miss Dina Thorps, our new internal audit director. Um she introduced herself in the opening, but I would also just like to give her an opportunity since this is her first um board audit committee meeting to formally introduce herself and share a little bit about herself before we jump into today's agenda. Miss Thorps. Thank you, Dr. Ander. Um, again, my name is Dina Thorps and I was recently hired
005um sometime in March to begin as the director of internal audit. Um, I bring a wealth of experience, close to almost 20 years of experience in the audit realm working in federal, state, and local government sectors. I have um a lot of experience with quality assurance and making sure that audits um are completed in accordance with our standards whether it is internal auditing standards or AICPA related standards as well as the yellow book or gagas as we call it. Um, I also have a lot of experience just doing different um, operational and investigation um, audits as well and just looking to bring all of that experience into PGCPS to really drive a difference and try to enforce everything that we're doing here and making sure that internal audit is being that layer of defense where
006we are identifying things or internal control deficiencies to help make sure that we're improving and being efficient and effective in our efforts. as a whole. So, thank you for this time. Thank you, Miss Dorfson, and thank you for joining us. Like to recognize Chair Jackson. Thank you so much. Um, Dr. I just wanted to uh quickly make a comment and say um me um chair I mean excuse me but um vice chair bore uh Pamela Boozer brothers and also board member Walker um sat in on the interview process with um Miss Dena Thorps and just want to say how we were so impressed with her experience um her credentials having experience in the public and private sector. I think she'll be an asset to PGCPS and we're just so excited to have her on board.
007Thank you so much, Sher Jackson, and and welcome again, Miss Thorps. We are extremely elated to have you on board and look forward to working with you moving forward. Okay. Now, we will move on to agenda item 3.1 background regarding the Prince George's County Public Schools and the role of the Office of Legislative Audits. This evening we will be providing a highle overview of the financial management practices audit report conducted by the office of legislative audit. The audit was the audit report was completed in March of 2025 and we'll be providing a brief overview. We will be opening the floor for discussion um following the conclusion of the reporting out on the specific um action steps that are being taken following the findings that have been reported. Um oh, it's up on the screen. Thank
008you so much, Miss Barton. Give me one moment. All right. All right. So, um I'm going to begin before we jump into um specifically talking about the financial management practices audit. I'm just speaking um briefly about the Office of Legislative Audits. Um also referred to as OA for those of you who may not be um aware. The OA is a part of the Maryland General Assembly. It conducts financial audits of all 24 mailing school systems um every six years. Um and this particular audit um that they conducted um was released again on March 2025. It examines 11 core operational areas including including payroll, procurement, transportation, and food services. Um we've had a proven track record um Prince George's County Public Schools um of responding to audits with very clear action as to how we will
009move forward um and effectively actually respond and resolve findings um in the past. And so this evening um we'll be providing information about how you can actually access the audit for your information and again speak to specifically some of the corrective actions um and action plans that have been put in place as a result of the findings shared. So we can move to the next slide, Miss Barton. Thank you. So the financial management practice audit again released um in March of 2025. Um the objectives were rather straightforward in that they were to evaluate the effectiveness of Prince George's County Public Schools procedures and controls for accounting and safeguarding its assets and evaluate policies um and their ability to provide the efficient use of financial resources. Um the audit was conducted in accordance with the requirement
010of the state government article section 2220E of the annotated code of Maryland. If you would like to access um the full audit, there's a QR code provided here. Um feel free to access the audit here. Give you a moment. Okay. Thank you, Miss Barton. Okay. Can now move into some of the specific actions that were taken. Um again, I encourage everyone if interested to review the audit, review the specific findings um that were provided. Um again, the goal and purpose of this time um as promised was to ensure that we're bringing this information um to the public. um we are wanting to ensure that there's transparency and accountability um as it relates to the findings. And so the some of the actions that have been implemented to date um have been around payroll accuracy, transportation,
011improving the transportation payroll process, um transportation efficiency, and addressing the bus routing system. With regard to payroll accuracy, we've introduced preventative measures um and additional staff reviews to ensure payroll data accuracy. We've also instituted new reports and payroll runs, ensuring that they're being used to capture um any discrepancies moving forward. With regards to the transportation payroll process, the daily payroll process for transportation, it has been since revised um to ensure better accuracy and we're working with vendors to improve payroll tracking and implementing monthly overtime audits. When it comes to transportation efficiency, we have a new routing system that's been secured. We're working to improve efficiency by defining start and end times and also prioritizing the development of clear routing procedures under new leadership. And our bus routing system, we've implemented a new system that sets
012capacity limits, ridership goals, and ride time limits with ongoing reviews of opt optimal efficiency. additional actions that taken that will that will occur. Miss Barton, if you can advance slide. Thank you. In addition to the actions that have already been implemented, there are additional targeted action plans. The divisions um with specific audit findings will be developing detailed plans with timelines for corrective actions. Um we're of course enhancing oversight. We're strengthening internal controls and accountability to ensure the effectiveness of these corrected actions and increasing training and compliance monitoring. There will be ongoing staff trainings to ensure compliance with corrective actions and policies. And lastly, regular progress monitoring monitoring um and reporting. There'll be quarterly updates on corrective actions. They'll be provided to the board of education and posted um for transparency and accountability on the PGCPS
013website. We'll pause there. At this time, we do want to ensure that we allow time for discussion and questions. Um, and again, as I mentioned, the goal tonight was to ensure that we were providing access to the audit, speaking to the specific implemented actions and any additional actions that will be forthcoming. Um, now that we've actually received the findings, um, as of March 2025, um, we do have administrative staff here to support. Um, but again, the goal is to, um, ensure that there's time for discussion as needed. And again, here's the QR code should you want to access the audit report. Um the management letter um that precedes the full audit report is extremely helpful and just providing an overview of the report. We also encourage everyone to ensure that you are reviewing the administration's
014full responses which can be found at the back of the audit. And at this time we will open for discussion. Thank you Miss Barton. I'll begin by seeing if there are any questions from the board. Yes, Chair Jackson. Um so good afternoon um everybody again. Um one of the things that I was uh thinking about is um the internal controls piece. Um could we have um Miss Thorps um just talk about the internal controls that are in place so uh we can mitigate these issues uh coming forward. What specifically? Um, so with the internal controls, I guess if you can kind of pinpoint your question a little bit more to help me understand how to answer. Pull up. Um, Dr. Andle, can you pull up the um the presentation again? Yes, Miss Barton. Thank you.
015Actually, I'm looking at which slide would you? So I think he's referencing on um when it comes to the the second the last slide around additional actions there was a mentioning of enhanced oversight. So mentioning that there will be a strengthening of internal controls and accountability um to ensure effectiveness of corrective actions. And so I think chair Jackson that that is actually just speaking to just over you know just more broadly just in ensuring that there is enhanced oversight. Um and so I imagine and I and then I'll turn it over um that as it relates to you know a number of these different um findings. So when it comes to payroll accuracy things around um transportation um and bus routing um that there would be different um internal controls right or oversight could look
016different in each of those areas. I'll turn it over and see if um either Miss Thorps or perhaps um Dr. Baldwin could speak to and provide an example of what this could look like. But before you before you turn it over, yeah, I definitely wanted to to to talk about those for a second. And with the internal controls, I just wanted to know um and like it could be Dr. Bowwin or it could be um you know uh Miss Thorps can talk to like what tangible um like uh mechanisms were put in place um just to I know you probably can't cover all of them in a short period of time but like if there's anything um that just can give us a little bit more um I guess confidence in you know something like
017this not happening again or uh mitigating the um chances of this things happening again. I just wanted to know if there was anything out there that you can just mention to us as far as like from a control uh standpoint. I'm happy to jump in and help um our new director of internal audit. Um, I can only say what in when I joined PGCPS in October of I think it was 2018. I was on the receiving end of where we are right now. I had just joined the school system, just received an OA report, um, and trying to figure out what our next steps. So, for me, it's full circle to now be six years later being on the receiving end. And I will say in between that period of time, what I remember as
018far as a or what we've done um as far as internal controls is um uh Miss Thorp's predecessor had um the OA findings and would periodically also do random follow-up audits um so that it wasn't this long time period between because OA does them I think every six to seven years, six years. So that if we have an internal organization that actually follows up with some of the more critical findings to just keep a shorter progress monitoring in between. So that could be or has been one of the examples and I think that um for me it was a specific one when I came in 2018 related to transportation. So it was nice to find out that um you know something that was previously in the audit about transportation and records and personnel was not
019in the followup. Gotcha. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. To add on to that, um, that will likely still be the same process where we will take external audits, whether it's from OA or OIG, whoever it would be from, that will be considered when it's time for us to do our annual audit planning process, so that we can make sure that we're also continuing to follow up on these matters and make sure that the corrective actions have also been implemented. And then it's another point here at the bottom where we're talking about regular progress reporting that is really interesting to me because I have been working with my team to also start tracking specific audit findings as well as the action items like when they are due or expected to be implemented so that
020we could start doing followup and making sure that at least from internal audit and potentially also the external audits we can follow up on those items to just make sure that the action items are actually being implemented. it as they have stated in the responses. So that's something else that I think we will also look to do. Yeah. And I don't know Dr. Ender is my time up or I don't see time being tracked. Um and I'm Miss Barton. Yeah, the timer is not coming up. I'm tracking it. Yeah, your your 2.5 is over. Okay, I'm tracking it. I'll wait till my next next question then, I guess. Thank you. Thought it was just me for a moment. I was like, I don't see it. Um, do any other board members have questions? Okay. If
021not, then chair Jackson, it's back to you. Back to me again. Okay. So, um, so quick question is that well, I guess more of a statement pretty much. So, I just want to say um I think that this has this is this will be um very helpful because in the past there hasn't really been um a audit function um that specifically looks to the followup of the uh recommendations by the audit committee uh I mean excuse me by the internal audit. I think that that's just been um conversations that have happened and it's just like you know we've done this XYZ but as far as like having a true like watchdog entity that looks to see like okay these you know 20 or 19 or however many you know recommendations were made and to actually
022have uh a followup and say these out of all of these recommendations these have been executed and implemented you know according to that recommendation and giving the board insight on what actually has taken place. I feel like it's very valuable u for the board education because I think that's the missing piece. So I just want to say thank you for uh bringing that dimension to audit cuz um and I don't know if my board members can uh fellow colleagues can speak to this um but I haven't seen that um in an actual like um you know like a a KPI always you know say like a metric that's really like measuring um recommendation versus implementation piece. So, I think that's an amazing um feature that we're adding to the internal audit department. So, thank you
023for that. Thank you, Chair Jackson. Recognize board member Olivo. Thank you. Um board member Andra, this question might be more for Dr. Baldwin. Um because you mentioned that you started just prior to the last six-year audit. I wondered if you could share with us um so I haven't had a chance to go back six years to that audit. Um, but I wondered if there are issues that were raised in that audit that then we saw raised again, you know, 6 years later or are we really looking at different issues, you know, that were we saw six years ago, perhaps there were some corrective measures put into place and now there are different issues being raised in this audit. But I wondered um if there are things that that we saw six years ago in the
024audit and that now came up again. Thank you for that question. Um, for me, I will be transparent in the beginning that it was just such a blur. Um, that it's hard to remember the first year. Um, but one of the things, uh, and for us as a district, we take each one of our division areas and focus really on that. So um when I came in one of the um issues that I had to address were um salaries um and that's where internal audit throughout the year also followed up on salary setting guidelines. Um and so I was pleased to not see that um come across again. Um so that's just an example of how it has worked for me. Um, I know there was also a big thing or a big area of
025need when it came to transportation because our bus drivers also have to have physicals. There is a lot of um paperwork in regards to becoming a bus driver and so just making sure they were housed accordingly and in the order that OA had expected and to not see those same things and this time it was more about the routing system. So I think that's one of the things that I noticed in the report that a lot of if you want to measure as chair Jackson said like a key KPI metrics there were findings this time but there were not a lot of repeat findings um if if you look at it as a whole and the things they found this time are new areas that we have to address and I think at the end
026of the day that's the purpose of auditing right is they're not coming to find what you're doing right. They're coming to find what you're doing wrong. And Mia is giving me the phone. So, um it's it's just shame on us if we don't take those opportunities to change. Thank you so much. I appreciate that answer. Any other comments or questions from the board? Okay, there are no other questions from the board. Um again um we provided the link to the full um audit for your review. Um I think I failed to mention that there were 16 findings and so again you will see those there um listed out for you um in their entirety. Um with regard to next steps, um you will this um actual presentation has been uploaded to board docs as well
027if you'd like to review um some of the um action plans that have been implemented and in future actions. Um any follow-ups from tonight's meeting um will be shared upon receipt. There being no further business, the time is now 6:29 and the May 5th, 2025 board audit committee audit committee meeting, I'm going to get it right one time, is adjourned. Have a good evening everyone. Thank you so much for joining. Thank you. Thank you. Good night. Thank you. Good night.