Hanford West High School students and athletic team members often brought money directly to the student activities account clerk and received no receipts, leaving the advisors and coaches with no accurate records and making it difficult for the school district to track the movement of funds, Hanford high school district's top official said Wednesday.

In the wake of a former finance clerk being charged with stealing about $200,000 from the school's student body, Hanford Joint Union High School District Superintendent Bill Fishbough acknowledged that the oversight on students' fundraising money was inadequate.

Fishbough promised tightening of checks and balances and personnel training to prevent this type of incident from ever happening again.

"We're continuing to improve the system. We're training our employees, coaches, advisors in their roles in dealing with students' finances and fundraisers," Fishbough said. "This position will be refilled with someone who will not only deal with accounting but also work under the oversight of the (school) and the district office.

"It's disappointing to us to have this situation, and we're working diligently to ensure this doesn't happen again," Fishbough said.

Hanford police last week arrested 47-year-old Kathleen Barrie, a former student activities finance clerk at Hanford West, in connection with thefts. Barrie allegedly took about $200,000 from the account for money obtained through fundraisers, donations and sporting events.

As much as $500,000 to $700,000 annually can flow through each Hanford high school's student body, according to the school district.

Barrie was first placed on a paid administrative leave when the school district discovered accounting discrepancies. She was then placed on leave without pay in May and was eventually fired in June, according to the school district.

The suspect allegedly stole money through a scheme called "kiting," which police described as a process of withholding money just long enough for another incoming cash to cover it up.  What tripped her up was a $60,000 bill for a cheerleading event, police say.

The allegations do, however, go as far back as fiscal year 2005-2006.

And the fact that the school district did not notify the police until this April raises questions, especially when at least one former athletic coach says he had expressed concerns regarding funding irregularities well before the school went to the police.

"I had gone to my vice principal at the time and had a meeting with the assistant superintendent a full year before they found out she was doing anything," said Scott Davis, a retired science teacher and a former wrestling coach at Hanford West. "I reported to them that about $4,000 was taken out of the wrestling account."

Davis claims he was subsequently denied a coaching position and was pressured into retirement by the administration.

Fishbough said if there was any complaint made regarding discrepancies in the student body account prior to this April, he was not made aware of it.

Ultimately, Hanford West itself was solely responsible for overseeing student body finances, Fishbough said. But the nature of the crime made it difficult for anyone to detect it, he said.

"Anytime this type of thing happens, certainly the wish is that we caught it sooner," Fishbough said. "But the nature of kiting is that you eventually get to some place you can't juggle it to make a payment. That's traditionally how it comes to light in any organization."

The district will now make coaches and advisors of any student groups raising money keep accurate accounting of funds coming in. They will have to collect the money, turn it in and get receipts as part of the change, Fishbough said.

Previously, some student groups have turned in money to the student body without getting receipts for the amount of money turned in, Fishbough said.

The district office will also get involved by verifying the records of the Associated Student Body and by advisors and coaches, he said.

"The other thing we're doing is the software program that (school) sites have used independently will now be a districtwide program, which allows not only the ASB clerk, but also a number of people at the sites and our district office (to) pull up any of the accounts anytime to see what's been deposited and what's been collected," Fishbough said.

The California State Student Body Association has publicly called for an immediate solution to the loss by the Hanford West student body this week. But the school district had already announced last Thursday that it is in the process of recovering the funds through an insurance claim.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(Sept. 4, 2009)