/usr/web/www.marshallindependent.com/wp-content/themes/coreV2/single.php
×

USAC demands RTR School District repay $42,565.53

TYLER — The Russell-Tyler-Ruthton School District was presented with a demand for a $42,0000 payment by Southwest West Central Service Cooperative (SWWC) during Wednesday’s school board meeting.

Josh Sumption, regional Telecom Co-op director with SWWC delivered the demand for Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).

“You could be writing a check for $2 million tonight,” Sumption said. “You are fortunate that it is only $42,565.53.”

Sumption said that the repayment demand from USAC for drawdown of funds that occurred in the years occurring between 2010 through 2015 for duplicate Internet services and lack of documentation of an appropriate bidding process.

“You are not allowed to have more than one Internet provider at a time,” Sumption said. The RTR District had employed Woodstock Telephone service as its Internet provider and another company from Sioux Falls for equipment and repair work during the same time period. Drawing down funds for both constitutes fraud.

“They wanted us to respond with a check by tomorrow, but because we have a board meeting tonight, Josh (Sumption) was able to get a week’s extension,” Interim Superintendent Richard Orcutt said.

Because the RTR District and its service cooperative self-reported the discrepancy, the USAC is willing to forgo permanent disbarment of the district provided they make restitution for the actual drawdown of eRate funds, withdraw unfulfilled requests for drawdown from that doubled-up time frame and certified that the district will not commit any further errors. The deadline given for the response is Feb. 23.

Sumption also explained the reason USAC was not demanding the $2 million that had been requested by the district. He said the district had not yet made the draw on the rest of the funds.

The basis for the claim is that RTR School District is charged with not having the documentation for following the appropriate bidding and contract process to hire outside the perimeters of the no-duplication rule.

According to the district, it filed the original request Form 470 and was supposed document the bid letting process and include a copy of the resulting contract before submitting the closing document, Form 471. But the school board has been unable to locate those supporting documents.

Director Craig Hess asked Sumption what would happen if the district made the payment, but later the documents were found.

Sumption said that an appeal could be submitted after which USAC would review the documents and may find reason to refund the payment.

The board went ahead and approved payment of the $42,565.53 eRate funds.

The board also considered a request by staff to pull out of the teaching agreement with the Lynd School District and to retrieve district equipment.

The agreement has been a concern for eight years, according to the middle school teachers in attendance, whereby RTR would send middle school students to Lynd for shop and Spanish. According to staff the agreement has cost RTR students valuable time in their core classes of English, history and science as well as band and choir.

Orcutt lent support to the request by saying that with retrieving the equipment and hiring one teacher for the shop classes, RTR could manage its own without losing that valuable core time as well as saving on transportation cost.

The board voted 6-1 to issue a notification to discontinue the teaching agreement.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today