Shelby County Schools audit of missing equipment is a work in progress, Hopson says

Shelby County Schools principals and staff have located 30,837 pieces of equipment that an independent auditor reported missing last summer.

More than 23,000 pieces of equipment remain missing.

SCS audit chief Melvin Burgess said during Tuesday night’s board work session more than 50 percent of unaccounted-for items have been found in the audit report.

Burgess recommended the district’s next steps should be separation of accounting duties, accountability, authorization and approval, security of assets and review and reconciliation to keep an accurate account of the district’s assets.

“These are good first step recommendations from Chief Burgess and his team and we’re contracting with outside group to review the results,” said SCS Superintendent Dorsey Hopson II. 

Two teams are visiting 20 schools, based on the percentage of missing items, to verify the remaining assets.

Each school will receive a complete report following the completion of the inventory .

Last year, Maryland-based ProBar conducted the first equipment inventory in 30 years for both legacy Memphis City and legacy Shelby County districts. Probar reported 54,272 pieces of equipment were missing.