Clare School check register posted online
After written and in-person requests that began in April, Clare resident and local attorney Ghazey Aleck posted the check register for Clare Public Schools online at www.clareschoolsexposed.com.
Aleck first asked the board to post its check register online in a letter April 14 “to promote transparency in government and promote public confidence.”
Aleck made the request several times. He made the same request in person at the April 20 Clare Board of Education meeting and a second request at the May 18 board meeting, where he told the board “If they did not put it online, he would, and they might not like the manner in which he posed it.”
Aleck said, “I think transparency in government is long overdue. When we can’t get a school district to post their expenditures online, I wonder if it will ever be possible to get Cities, Township, County, State and Federal Government to do so.”
Aleck said he has recently been contacted by the Mackinaw Center who has joined in the effort to get Clare Public Schools to disclose its expenditures online. “It was easy for me to post the information online,” Aleck said. “I think the school is missing the boat.” He continued, “My stated intent from the beginning was that the schools would strengthen their image with the community if they posted the information online. Instead they chose to ignore me, so I put it online myself.”
Clare Schools Business Manager and CFO Lynn Graham said the issue is on the agenda for the June 25 board meeting. “At this time we have a teacher who volunteers her time to keep up the school website. We are working on giving other key employees in our district the ability to make changes to the website as well.”
She continued, “I have no objections to the public viewing our expenditures. Every yer our books are audited by an independent CPA firm. One of their tasks is to test our expenditures for proper documentation, legality and adherence to the Board’s set policies. Clare Public Schools passes all of these tests with no problem.”
The annual Budget Hearing is set for 6:30 p.m. June 25 and the regular meeting begins at 7 p.m.
