After long-time former auditor quit in 2022, Columbus schools hires permanent replacement

The Columbus City Schools Board of Education hired a new internal auditor Tuesday after the district's longtime auditor quit in 2022 when the board president told her to stop surveying faculty.

Kevin O'Connor, currently the interim internal auditor for the district through 2027, was given the permanent, full-time post during a meeting Tuesday. O'Connor served nine years within the CCS department.

The vacancy for the position came last year after former Internal Auditor Carolyn Smith quit the district in late 2022 after board leadership instructed her to stop surveying teachers about building conditions, Smith told the The Dispatch in 2023.

O'Connor, a CCS graduate, will be paid $200,000 annually to head the district office responsible for measuring district compliance with board policies and procedures. Alongside the CCS superintendent and treasurer, the internal auditor is one of three positions hired directly by the board of education.

Prior to his time with CCS, O'Connor was the chief executive for internal auditing at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) for more than 15 years, where he was responsible for directing all facets of internal and external audits for the department, according to his profile on the CCS website. Before working for the ODNR, O'Connor worked for the Ohio Auditor of State for eight years.

In a prepared statement, O'Connor said he looks forward to continuing his partnership with the administration "to maximize our value to the District through communication, collaboration, and building relationships."

During the meeting, Board Member Jennifer Adair said the board was able to reconsider the role of internal auditor during the search process, and said O'Connor and the internal auditor team has been helpful in being more proactive.

"This is good governance," Adair said. "This helps us with ensuring that we are operating in ways that are fully transparent, ensuring that we are following our policies, and really helping us do what we do best on the adult side so we can ensure that our students are meeting their outcomes."

Previous internal auditor quit after board ordered survey stopped

Former internal auditor Smith told the The Dispatch that she resigned from the district in late 2022 after then-board president Adair instructed her to stop a survey of teachers' opinions on the condition of the more than 100 school buildings in the state's largest district. The survey was a piece of a larger building preparedness audit, and received immediate pushback from board officials and the head of the union that represents district support personnel like custodians.

The Dispatch previously reported that district administrators said the survey Smith was conducting was significantly behind schedule, and that the character of the questions asked made certain employees feel targeted and "unfairly evaluated by other employees."

Adair and former Board Member Carol Beckerle previously told The Dispatch that they respect auditors' independence as an important part of the job.

More: Columbus schools auditor quits after board president told her to stop surveying faculty

In 2022, Columbus City Schools teachers and other professional staff went on strike for three days during contract negotiations between the district and the Columbus Education Association. Building conditions, especially a lack of air conditioning in some buildings, were a central point of discussion in the negotiations.

An internal investigation by a district legal team into Smith and her office determined they had not violated any ethical standards by their actions, but they also didn't follow best practices when it came to the language used in the survey, Adair said at the time.

Smith had led the district's internal audit office since September 2009, and was known statewide for her role in exposing the district's 2012 student data scandal, which involved school administrators falsifying student data on attendance and test scores in order to retain state per-pupil funding allocations.

Smith’s early work in examining student-data problems in Columbus was the foundation for a state investigation that found widespread student-attendance fraud and inexplicable changes to students’ grades.

District also hiring replacement treasurer

Columbus City Schools is also seeking a permanent treasurer, a position currently held by Interim Treasurer Jennifer Vanover. The Educational Service Center of Central Ohio has been contracted to provide no-cost assistance with the job search. The position was vacated by former Treasurer Stan Bahorek, who retired in 2023.

@Colebehr_report

Cbehrens@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus City Schools Board of Education hires auditor Kevin O'Connor