In a special meeting of the Levittown Board of Education a new external auditor was named. This action follows allegations of embezzlement within the Roslyn School District, during which time Miller, Lilly & Pearce, LLP, were the auditing firm for that district.

The Jan. 26 meeting declared R.S. Abrams & Co., LLP as the district's external auditor for the remainder of the 2004-2005 school year. Superintendent Dr. Herman Sirois said that they recently learned Miller, Lilly & Pearce, LLP were intending to go out of business. The district began soliciting proposals for a new external auditor in November as stated in a press release published in the Nov. 19 issue of the Levittown Tribune.

"I recommended to the board that we get somebody else as soon as possible," Dr. Sirois explained. "Because it is going to be a mad rush out there."

According to State Senator Michael Balboni, Miller, Lilly & Pearce, LLP audited finances for 51 other Long Island school districts, including Levittown and Island Trees. In response to recent developments in the Roslyn School District, the Levittown Board of Education also authorized a self-audit of internal controls on Nov. 10, 2004.

"There are a number of things that we did," Dr. Sirois said. "We did a review of all of our internal controls last spring and again over the summer. We are also reviewing a number of categories of audits to just double check. By and large what we're finding is that Lilly, who is the person who did our books, did excellent work."

Dr. Sirois went on to explain that the district is not hiring outside workers to complete this task, but are rather going over the numbers internally.

"If we find anything that is questionable, then we would spend some money trying to find out what it means," Dr. Sirois said. "But so far, everything looks good."

The board is also in the middle of doing an in-depth self audit of all internal controls. This is being headed up by the Assistant Superintendent of Administration Victor Longaro.

"We wouldn't want a business person doing it directly, it's kind of like checks and balances," Dr. Sirois said. "We have gathered recommendations for red flagging fraud and internal control. It is kind of a checklist of what you should be looking at and for. We're doing a whole self evaluation to see if we have any gaps. We don't think we do, but you want to have the security."

According to Dr. Sirois, the new accounting firm, R.S. Abrams & Co., LLP, had served as the district's external auditor over 20 years ago.

"Around 1981 the school board changed auditors and hired a big firm to do the books for about eight years," Dr. Sirois said. "Then about 1992 or 1993, we went with Miller, Lilly & Pearce and now 10 years later, we're changing again."