New Touchet Superintendent Talks About Fixing School District
TOUCHET -- KEPR is continuing our coverage on the trouble with Touchet schools. Last week Action News showed you a state audit outlining some big problems keeping track of money.
Now Action News follows up with the man just hired to help get the district back on track.
It's the August quiet before back to school, but unlike most districts, this summer wasn't calm in Touchet.
There's been a lot of change starting with one man.
"Every district I've been in has been better and in stronger financial condition when I leave then before I got there," said Dr. Eugene Berquam.
Consider Berquam a fixer. He's Touchet's new interim superintendent, commuting every day from his home in Spokane.
As a retired school administrator his focus is now on helping troubled districts.
Action News asked Berquam, Do you think you can really turn the boat around in a year?
"If we can make this year work with the kind of budget I've put together, we can climb out of this. We've got relationship issues we need to rebuild," said Berquam.
There's a lot to rebuild. Around Christmas, teachers came to Action News after a "glitch" in the system meant they didn't get paid on time.
When this audit was released last week, KEPR went back to teachers showing them proof of the bad budgeting and misuse of money.
The new superintendent says he's already re-working the budget.
He's says there are too many teachers for a dwindling student population and then there's the bad bookkeeping.
Last week, KEPR told you about one glaring error that stood out to auditors and stood out to us, the mystery of the missing $68,000.
The interim superintendent says he looked into it. He says it was an interest payment made but never subtracted from their books.
"We've made some changes. The district knows we made changes and the auditor knows we've made some changes, and they're working," said Berquam.
Changes like new procedures and new people hired last year to balance the books. It's one step in the right direction, with plenty more to go -- in what will turn out to be a year of tough decisions for Touchet schools.
KEPR also thought you should know this is the first time one of our reporters has been able to sit down for an interview with the superintendent of Touchet schools. The former superintendent never agreed to an interview during our coverage of troubles with teacher pay checks last school year. So our questions went unanswered.
The new superintendent says he's just looking to move forward.
Now Action News follows up with the man just hired to help get the district back on track.
It's the August quiet before back to school, but unlike most districts, this summer wasn't calm in Touchet.
There's been a lot of change starting with one man.
"Every district I've been in has been better and in stronger financial condition when I leave then before I got there," said Dr. Eugene Berquam.
Consider Berquam a fixer. He's Touchet's new interim superintendent, commuting every day from his home in Spokane.
As a retired school administrator his focus is now on helping troubled districts.
Action News asked Berquam, Do you think you can really turn the boat around in a year?
"If we can make this year work with the kind of budget I've put together, we can climb out of this. We've got relationship issues we need to rebuild," said Berquam.
There's a lot to rebuild. Around Christmas, teachers came to Action News after a "glitch" in the system meant they didn't get paid on time.
When this audit was released last week, KEPR went back to teachers showing them proof of the bad budgeting and misuse of money.
The new superintendent says he's already re-working the budget.
He's says there are too many teachers for a dwindling student population and then there's the bad bookkeeping.
Last week, KEPR told you about one glaring error that stood out to auditors and stood out to us, the mystery of the missing $68,000.
The interim superintendent says he looked into it. He says it was an interest payment made but never subtracted from their books.
"We've made some changes. The district knows we made changes and the auditor knows we've made some changes, and they're working," said Berquam.
Changes like new procedures and new people hired last year to balance the books. It's one step in the right direction, with plenty more to go -- in what will turn out to be a year of tough decisions for Touchet schools.
KEPR also thought you should know this is the first time one of our reporters has been able to sit down for an interview with the superintendent of Touchet schools. The former superintendent never agreed to an interview during our coverage of troubles with teacher pay checks last school year. So our questions went unanswered.
The new superintendent says he's just looking to move forward.
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