November 1, 2024
Dear Jag Community,
I wanted to provide an update on the State Auditor's Office (SAO) Fraud Investigation regarding the actions of former Easton School District employees.
You may recall a “Fraud Investigation” was initiated when current Easton School District staff alerted the SAO of financial mismanagement concerns of former Easton employees during the school district’s Accountability Audit. The SAO’s fraud investigation covered the 2011 to 2021 school years.
For your information, those reports can be found below:
Fraud Investigation Report (covering years 2011-2021)
Accountability Audit Report (covering years 2019-2022)
Both reports can also be found on the SAO website https://www.sao.wa.gov/reports-data/audit-reports
As I mentioned in my September 2024 letter to the community, Easton School District submitted a fraud claim with our district’s insurance provider to recover lost funds and filed criminal charges with the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office(KCSO) as a result of the SAO’s fraud investigation report.
Recently, the fraud claim with our insurance carrier was resolved. After the deductible, Easton School District recovered close to $87,000 in total. In addition, the criminal investigation continues on the actions of former Easton School District employees. A detective from KCSO is now assigned to our case and working with the State Auditor's Office (SAO) to collect additional information.
The Easton School Board and I are committed to being open and transparent with District financial information and operations. We are working to regain the lost trust in the school district caused by former Easton employees. With that being said, all Board meetings, Board agendas, and meeting videos can be found on our online school board platform, BoardDocs, which is available at: https://go.boarddocs.com/wa/eastonsd/Board.nsf/Public Additionally, if you are unable to attend a live meeting, recordings of Easton School Board meetings can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/@eastonjaguars
Thank you, and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Aaron Kombol
Superintendent