State Comptroller to audit Lockport school district

Benjamin Joe, Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, N.Y.
·2 min read

Mar. 3—Lockport City School District has been informed that it will be audited by the Office of the State Comptroller.

"The audit will focus on evaluating District operations with the goal of promoting efficiency and protecting District assets from loss or misuse," Jeffrey Mazula, chief examiner in the Division of Local Government and School Accountability, wrote in a March 2 letter to district Superintendent Michelle Bradley.

Tania Lopez, deputy press secretary for the state comptroller's office, said the audit was ordered upon an "initial risk assessment ... after issues were brought to the Comptroller's attention."

Likening the audit to an open investigation, Lopez said she could neither confirm nor deny that the audit was sparked by a formal complaint about the district's acquisition of a now-shutdown facial recognition surveillance system.

District resident Jim Shultz last month filed an administrative petition with the Office of the State Comptroller asking for a review of that process, pointing out a district security consultant's possible conflict of interest, the apparent lack of a competitive bidding process to obtain a facial recognition-capable surveillance system and the possible use of district resources to peer into Shultz's background after he began questioning the pursuit.

While the comptroller's spokesperson did not link the audit with Shultz's request, Shultz is confident that his request was granted. He received a message from the comptroller's office last week indicating that his petition had been forwarded to the Division of Local Government and School Accountability for risk assessment.

"This was a waste of $2.7 million that was needless (and) taxpayers and parents in Lockport have waited for more than three years for some kind of accountability at the district," Shultz said in a Tuesday telephone interview. "Hopefully we'll get that accountability now that the comptroller is going to take a look up close at what the district has done."

LCSD obtained a facial and object recognition-capable surveillance system, powered by the SNTechnologies-developed Aegis software suite, using funds from the state through the Smart Schools Bond Act. The system was activated in January 2020 and was then shut down by the end of the year, after Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed a law halting the use of biometric surveillance systems in schools until the impacts on students are further studied.

Karen Young, president of the Lockport Board of Education, was cc'd on the comptroller's letter to Bradley. In response to questions from the Union-Sun & Journal on Tuesday, she said, "The only comment I have is that, yes, I did receive the letter and the district and I will cooperate with the comptroller's office with the audit."

Bradley could not be reached for comment late Tuesday afternoon.