As a late audit ensnared one school board in Teller County, the audit for the Cripple Creek/Victor School District by Hoelting & Co. is on-target for late December submittal.  

“Twenty-five school districts were not audited last year,” said CC&V superintendent Dan Cummings, speaking at the board meeting Dec. 1.  “Six are unable to file an audit because auditors will not take on their schools.”

The news has reached the Colorado State Board of Education.

“The state is wrestling right now with wondering how to hold school districts accountable when auditors are no longer interested in working with many districts because of the economic red tape.”

However, CC&V is not among those districts.  

“I am happy to say that we have at least three offers for auditors for the next process, so we’ll be moving on that over the next couple of weeks,” Cummings said.

For the Woodland Park School District, the audit, under a former chief financial officer, was delayed but eventually submitted. The delay riled the community and led to dissension between the board and several vocal activists.

Cummings reported to the recently elected members, Amanda Young, Kasie Hilfer and Donna Brazill (returning for a second term), who joined Stephanie Stokes and Mark Green that evening.  

A report was given by Katie Ueberroth, who recently hired as the director of Ute Pass BOCES  (Board of Cooperative Education Services) after working for the organization for the past 10 years. 

BOCES’ members are Woodland Park and Cripple Creek/Victor school districts, after Manitou Springs dropped out last year.  

“There are BOCES set up throughout Colorado that serve smaller rural school districts,” Ueberroth said. “We have special service providers that we share throughout our school districts who serve students with disabilities.”

The providers include psychologists, a behavioral specialist in addition to occupational and physical therapists, she said.

“Those positions are shared between Woodland Park and Cripple Creek,” she said, adding that each student is given an IEP, Individualized Education Program.  “I will be in Woodland Park at the meeting Dec. 10 and hope to recruit two members to join Donna (Brazill) and Stephanie (Stokes) on the board,” she said.

In other news, Cummings announced that Mike McDonald retired recently after serving as the director of the library for 31 years. The library, in the high school, is part of the Southern Teller County Library District.

In addition to Cummings, Kyla Kahrs and Tonya Copley, principals of the secondary and elementary schools, respectively, were also present.