NEWFANE SCHOOLS: Audit blasts district for porn, pay raises and theft

[Ian David]

By Bill Wolcott/[e-mail]
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

NEWFANE — The Newfane Central School District, which has been bracing for the findings of a state audit, was rocked by the official report Monday.

The audit found:

— More than 2,000 pornographic Web pages listed on the history report of a laptop computer from May 2003 to December 2005. The machine was assigned to Lois Farley, a former school board member. The audit also identified former board member Richard Ruhmel’s computer as having accessed Internet pornography some 150 times.

— Former board President Donna Hill, while serving as an intern under former superintendent Dr. James Mills, voted for a salary agreement that increased Mills’ compensation by $44,000 in one year. That situation, reported at the time by the Union-Sun & Journal, caused the state to question whether Hill acted solely in the best interests of the district in regards to the pay increase.

— The district had not established adequate controls to protect fuel inventories and that Ridge Road Express owes the district 1,903 gallons of diesel fuel worth about $4,000.

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A third laptop, issued to Trustee Anthony LaRose, was used for banking, preparing tax returns, visiting gardening Web sites and online dating.

While the computers were issued to the board members, the report notes that the school board members are not necessarily the individuals who accessed the Web sites in question. The laptops were not password protected and auditors did not attempt to identify the actual users.

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“The primary focus is whether there’s child pornography. It’s illegal to have child pornography on there,” Murphy said.

Accessing adult forms of pornography is protected under the First Amendment.
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No other topics in the audit are the subject of a criminal investigation, the district attorney said.


More:
http://www.lockportjournal.com/local/local_story_058013943.html