Southampton County School Board counsel sent a letter to the county administrator on Sept. 19 indicating there is no legal authority for the forensic audit of Southampton County Public Schools, which the County Board of Supervisors is pursuing.

Alan W. Edwards

Oversight Board Chairman Dr. Alan W. Edwards said in an interview Monday, Oct. 21, that the board will still obtain the equivalent of a forensic audit of SCPS.

On Aug. 27, the Southampton County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to conduct a forensic audit of the school division.

School board counsel Pamela O’Berry of Sands Anderson PC said in her Sept. 19 letter to County Administrator Brian S. Thrower that “a forensic audit is an examination of financial records to obtain evidence to prosecute a party for fraud, embezzlement or other financial crimes.”

The Board of Supervisors’ unanimous vote followed a Citizen Comment Period at the start of the Aug. 27 meeting, during which 17 people spoke, all expressing concern about the state of the school system.

The board’s decision also followed an extended period of time in which some board members sought answers to specific questions about the school division’s finances.

In the Oct. 21 interview, Edwards indicated that what is prompting the board to pursue a forensic audit of the school system is “the deterioration of the quality of education. Southampton County Public Schools went from a four-star system to a one-star system in 2016. They are losing students. They go to Franklin. That and the financial irregularities we’re seeing and the lack of answers to the very legitimate questions we’ve asked the school system.”

SchoolDigger is a school ranking website that states that Southampton High School has seen a significant drop in its state ranking and SchoolDigger rating over the years.
“The school ranked 60th out of 322 Virginia high schools in 2014-15, but has since dropped to 257th out of 329 schools in the 2023-24 one-star ranking,” the SHS website summary states. . “This is in contrast to its previous four-star ratings from 2013-14 to 2016-17.”

Data sources for SchoolDigger include the National Center for Education Statistics, the US Department of Education, the US Census Bureau, and the Virginia Department of Education.

The website also lists an important disclaimer that not all limits are included.

“We make every effort to ensure limits are up-to-date,” the site says. “But it’s important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of school boundaries or locations, contact your local tax assessor’s office and/or school district.”

After O’Berry defined what a forensic audit was in her letter, she stated, “The school board is not aware of any credible information to support your request for a forensic audit, nor of any legal authority authorizing such action.” .

Her letter noted that school board and school division accounts and records were audited as recently as June 2024 as part of the county’s mandatory annual audits.

“The independent auditor’s report for fiscal year 2023 was prepared and released on December 14, 2023 and did not cite any irregularities or issues of concern related to the accounts or financial records of the School Board or the school division,” O’Berry said.

Later in the letter, she wrote, “Virginia law provides no authority to support your engagement of an outside auditing firm to conduct a forensic audit of the school board and/or school division. To the extent that the BOS has the ability to conduct an audit outside of the annual audit process described above (in the letter), it must be at the request of and conducted by the Auditor of Public Accounts of the Commonwealth of Virginia and only then with the approval of the Commission Joint Audit and Review Legislation.”

O’Berry indicated that a local governing body may be able to proceed with an “administrative audit” that may be permissive and limited in scope when directly related to specific lending, as discussed in an Attorney General opinion which he quoted. However, she went on to say that this situation “differs greatly from BOS’s current request for a forensic audit with no stated purpose or purpose and no credible information on which to base the request.”

She concluded her letter by writing that “as stewards of public funds, the School Board welcomes the opportunity to discuss specific information requests that the BOS may have. Any such requests must be submitted in writing to school board counsel at Sands Anderson PC for consideration by the school board.”

Edwards shared what the next steps forward would be for the Board of Supervisors after receiving the letter from O’Berry.

“The Southampton County Board of Supervisors will obtain a forensic audit, or its equivalent, of the Southampton County Public School Division,” he said. “We have agreed to spare no time or resources in this endeavour, and it shall be done.”

He indicated that the board is “involved in the legal situation to do this” and that it will go public once things are finalized.