Protecting your kids and your tax dollars from criminals: those are two promises Palm Beach County Superintendent Dr. Robert Avossa made going into the new school year.
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Over the summer the Palm Beach County School District took a second look at policies that needed to be reinforced after authorities accused at least two teachers and two school treasurers of misconduct.
In a one-on-one interview, WPTV asked Avossa about the thousands of dollars stolen from school accounts. The most recent case involved former Greenacres Councilwoman Lisa Rivera, she is accused of stealing more than $23,000 from Boca Raton High School.
Avossa said he personally met with all school bookkeepers during a monthly meeting. This year auditors will be checking accounts more frequently and principals have been trained to asked better questions to help uncover discrepancies.
"There are policies in place," Avossa said, "But again no matter how much you write a policy, no matter how much you train it, the 22,000 employees, if they see something they need to tell somebody and we’re going to follow up on that immediately."
In 2017, two teachers faced criminal charges for video voyeurism and child pornography. In those cases Avossa vowed to hold employees accountable and to investigate accusations.
The hotline to report abuse is (855) 561-1010.
