School district on guard against in-house fraud

To prevent embezzlement or other deceitful activity in its classrooms and offices, the Oak Park Unified School District Board of Education approved a fraud alert agreement with Glendorabased business consulting firm Vincenti, Lloyd and Stutzman.

At a cost of $100 per month the service constitutes a toll-free anonymous telephone hotline and website that allows district employees to anonymously report suspicious in-house activity.

"This is not a district that has had issues with this but having these things in place can help prevent them from happening," said Tony Knight, OPUSD superintendent. "The teacher may not feel comfortable going to the principal and the principal may be the one under suspicion."

Each classroom and office will retain the phone number. If a report is made, the auditing company will contact Knight who will discuss the issue with board members and decide what to do.

According to the Vincenti, Lloyd and Stutzman website, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimates that fraud losses exceed $600 billion in United States businesses and governmental agencies. The average business loses 6 percent to fraud and more than half of all frauds are detected or known by employees or customers within the organization. A trained and certified fraud examiner takes the call and reports it to management within 24 hours.

The idea for a fraud alert service came about after the Enron Corporation debacle in which the energy company went bankrupt after falsely reporting its financial status, according to Martin Klauss, OPUSD assistant superintendent, business and administrative services.

"People had no place to go to report what was going on," Klauss said. "This service gives them a safe, anonymous way to file a report.

- Sophia Fischer