A Santa Barbara County grand jury recently released its report on a school district in Cuyama, concluding that inadequacies in the district’s business office may have contributed to the “mysterious disappearance” of district funds in the spring of 2018.
In the report released on May 20, the jury details issues it found in the Cuyama Joint Unified School District’s business office, including out-of-date job descriptions, disparate and unrelated duties assigned to the chief business officer, payroll errors, and recurring financial audit findings. The jury also found that the district’s board of trustees failed to regularly update board policies and procedures, and that a high turnover of superintendents negatively impacted the district’s critical functions.
The jury listed eight key problems found in the school district’s business office and ways to mediate them, many of which Cuyama Superintendent Stephen Bluestein said he agrees with and plans to implement.
“No, I don’t think it’s inaccurate,” Bluestein told the Sun, adding that many of the jury’s findings echo concerns that have long been shared by educators, parents, and community members in Cuyama.
The grand jury report formalizes what many district officials were already working to do, Bluestein said.
Issues like the district’s lack of ongoing job and software training, he said, have already been addressed through similar means suggested in the jury’s report. Software training is ongoing, and the board of trustees is already working to update 10 to 12 of its policies at each meeting in an effort to bring the district’s business office into compliance.
Although Bluestein said it’s not necessarily unusual for superintendents to leave every four to five years, as they have in Cuyama, he said he plans to solve that issue himself.
“I want to be here for a long time,” he said.
In the coming months, Bluestein said he aims to work closely with his business office staff and the community to continue addressing the issues and remedies outlined in the grand jury report.
The investigation into Cuyama Joint Union School District was initiated in part because of the disappearance of district funds, which Bluestein said was discovered in spring 2018, before he came on as the district’s superintendent in July of that year.
On June 14, 2018, Cuyama Joint Union School District officials contacted the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office regarding a former employee suspected of embezzling school district funds, according to Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover.
Hoover said that because the investigation is still ongoing, she could not release the amount that was allegedly embezzled or any further details.
