Carroll County schools superintendent plans to tighten control over accounts after a former school secretary was charged with embezzling more than $200,000 in school funds.
“This is embarrassing, no doubt about it,” Superintendent Charles Ecker said at a news conference Tuesday.
Wendy Sue Bowers, 39, of Taneytown, was charged with eight counts of felony theft for stealing money raised through athletic events and fundraisers, according to charging documents. Her bail was set at $50,000.
Neal McCluskey, policy analyst for the Cato Institute?s Center of Educational Freedom, said although no data on the frequency of school embezzlement is available, the incidents are “widespread.”
Ensuring accountability among school officials is more complicated than for most businesses, he said, and there is little transparency in how money is spent.
In the Howard County Public School System, Ethel Collette Kirk was charged last year with embezzling $10,000 from the school activity fund at Folly Quarter Middle School, where she worked as a secretary and bookkeeper.
Concerns were raised by the school?s principal last spring after discrepancies in the school?s account ledto an internal audit. Kirk?s trial has been rescheduled for Nov. 14.
According to charging documents, Bowers doctored receipts, keeping two different records and pocketing the difference. She had worked for the school system for 16 years, first at the central office and at South Carroll High School since 1994.
The discrepancies first were discovered in February when the school system?s Comptroller Brad Martin was reviewing accounts for an audit.
Bowers told him the balances would even out with fundraisers, Martin said, but when he checked back two months later, the money was still missing. Bowers? charges relate to about $206,564 taken during six years, but State?s Attorney Jerry Barnes said additional charges may be filed.
Ecker said officials plan to hire more audit staff. The schools currently have one person dedicated to monitoring expenditures: Quality Assurance Specialist Lisa Rosenberg.
Examiner Staff Writer Tawanda W. Johnson contributed to this story.
