The Plumas County Office of Education/Plumas Unified School District board held its regular meeting June 18 in Quincy. Three of the four current board members attended: Joleen Cline, Cindy Crim and Chelsea Harrison. JoDee Johnson was absent. A fifth trustee representing District 5 has yet to be elected.
Interim PUSD superintendent appointed with new short contract
Interim PUSD Superintendent Jim Frost has completed his contract. That leaves a gap in administration until a new state-appointed administrator takes over leadership responsibility as part of the district’s emergency $20 million emergency loan from the state Legislature. To bridge it, the board approved a contract with PCOE Superintendent Andrea White. She will serve as interim superintendent for PUSD as well PCOE for the month of July. The board approved payment for the interim position at $350 per day.
Public input focuses on coming together
During the public comment section opening the meeting, Stuart Clark, a special education teacher and vice president of the Plumas California Teachers Association, encouraged the board to work together through this difficult time. “The budget means nothing unless the checkbook can back it up,” said Clark. He told the board to “soak up your mentoring, find comfort where you can, hold each other accountable, tell the truth and be kind.”
Debbie Hopkins, a Quincy resident, told the board that she cares about the community, and she works to revitalize the town. To do that, she said, “We need families. … Be kind, put down political differences. What you do is important to the school and community.”
Special election approved
White presented PCOE Resolution 2425-19, which authorizes the Plumas County clerk to conduct a special election by mail to fill the vacant District 5 board seat, representing East Quincy, Graeagle and Whitehawk. The election will be conducted as part of the general election Nov. 5.
In response to a question from the audience, White said only people living in District 5 can vote for the replacement candidate. Another questioner asked about the cost of the special election. White said the county clerk estimated it at between $10,000 and $15,000. The last question was whether the candidate would have to run again in 2026; the answer was yes. The new trustee will fill a midterm vacancy, up for re-election in 2026.
The board approved the resolution for the special election.
Audits identify significant problems
Heather Rubio, of Christy White Public Certified Accountants, presented the last of the overdue audits online via Zoom, this one for the 2023-24 fiscal year. She identified just one finding for PCOE: a lack of procedures for accounts receivable and payable.
In the PUSD audit, Rubio identified repeat findings from the 2022-23 fiscal year. They included:
- No control procedures in place
- Bank reconciliation that failed to include timely information from the county treasurer to close books
- Unclear inventory of the district equipment and assets
- Lack of control in associated student body funds
- Construction change orders that were not executed correctly
- Classroom teacher salaries did not meet the correct 55% of budget
- An after-school program that exceeded the maximum amount of funding, according to the audit
- A required hearing for instructional materials did not take place
- The administration-to-teacher ratio caused a $132,000 penalty because there were too many administrative staff
Stephanie Shatto, the interim chief business officer, said, “The audits are roadmaps for us to fix issues. We work closely with our auditors. The books here have been closed for a couple of years and we cannot change them. We are now on a roadmap to correction.”
Shatto also stressed that the 2024-25 audit will be on time this year, with no extension.
At the end of the meeting, Harrison, the board member representing Chester, paid respect to the sudden passing of Mike Klimek, a coach at Chester schools.
The next PCOE/PUSD board meeting will be held in Quincy at the district office June 25 and will include a presentation of the 2025-26 budget. The meeting will start with a closed session at 4 p.m. and open session at 5:30 p.m.
A June 26 meeting is also scheduled in Quincy to pass the proposed budget. That meeting will start at 5 p.m. at the district office.