A Lengthy Island high-school principal dropped hundreds of {dollars} on steak-and-lobster dinners, boozy workers events and jet-ski leases utilizing funds meant for a youth mentor program, a scathing audit says.
The monetary investigation mentioned it discovered that longtime Wyandanch Memorial Excessive Faculty Principal Paul Sibblies repeatedly reimbursed himself from student-club funds for the “questionable” bills — even signing off on the checks made out to him.
“This lack of further exterior oversight raises important issues concerning monetary accountability and inner controls,” mentioned the audit, which was performed by the district and Island-based accounting agency R.S. Abrams & Co. and launched final week.
The dough was drained from the varsity’s Kappa Membership account, which was meant for after-school pupil actions and journeys as a part of a mentoring initiative, the auditors mentioned.
Among the suspect bills concerned occasions labeled “Finish of 12 months Occasion” and “Employees College Occasion” that had been held at native eating places and included open bars, in keeping with the audit.
Different bills had been listed beneath the descriptions of “Jet Ski Rental — Bermuda Journey” and “EOY Tutorial Success,” which coated a steak-and-lobster dinner for 2 in Delaware, together with alcohol, the auditors mentioned.
The expenditures explicitly didn’t align with New York State Training Division tips governing the usage of extracurricular exercise funds, the audit discovered.
Sibblies, who has led the varsity since 2009, acquired greater than 40 suspicious reimbursements between July 2021 and November 2024 for over $35,500 by the varsity membership, which — which he was in command of however which was by no means formally acknowledged or accredited by the varsity board, in keeping with auditors.
“We had been unable to find out the appropriateness of worker reimbursements issued to the Kappa Membership’s college advisor, who additionally serves because the Excessive Faculty Principal,” the auditors wrote of their report.
“We recognized questionable expenditures inside the extracurricular exercise fund that don’t seem like straight associated to membership actions,” the audit continued.
The audit discovered that Sibblies, who additionally served because the Kappa League’s college adviser, not solely dealt with the membership’s money and accredited all of its disbursements — however would even log off on his personal checks tied to the reimbursements by the membership’s exercise fund.
For years, Sibblies persistently issued checks to himself with out impartial evaluate or approval from some other district worker aside from the membership’s treasurer, who additionally served as his clerical secretary, auditors mentioned.
Past the reimbursements, the audit additionally cited lots of of hundreds of {dollars} in poorly documented donations tied to the Kappa membership and one other middle-school membership, noting lacking data, imprecise descriptions and an absence of documentation detailing how the cash was collected, tracked or spent.
In response to the audit, which officers mentioned was accomplished in February of final yr however solely publicly launched this week, the varsity board voted almost unanimously in November to rent exterior attorneys to analyze the monetary issues raised within the report.
That investigation stays ongoing, officers mentioned.
“The district is regularly reviewing insurance policies and protocols, and we now have begun implementing strengthened monetary oversight measures,” Wyandanch Superintendent Dr. Erik Wright instructed The Submit in a press release.
“As this can be a matter of personnel, the district has no additional remark,” he added.
