Cindy Gonzalez
LINCOLN — Two big digital scoreboards that a Nebraska school district purchased with funds from a student nutrition fund and installed in a school gym were not an appropriate spend, a Nebraska Department of Education spokesman said Monday.
Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley last week issued a scathing letter to the Chase County public school district in southwest Nebraska, calling out its use of about $125,000 from a nonprofit school food account for the pair of “massive video scoreboards.”
The school district, in response, said that it was confident that it “appropriately and transparently” bought the video display boards after consulting with the Nebraska Department of Education.
A law firm representing the district told Foley’s audit team in a letter that while the boards are used for sports, they also display nutritional information. The firm said the district has a longstanding practice in which students line up on the walking track of the gym, where the boards communicate nutrition information to students on their way to the cafeteria.
The law firm added, however, that the district was ready to take corrective action if directed to do so by either the State Department of Education or the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Monday, spokesman David Jespersen, in response to a query by the Nebraska Examiner, said the State Department of Education will require the Chase County school district to provide quotes on three display monitors and notify the department of its choice. The department must approve.
“And the school nutrition program fund will be paid back less the approved amount based on the cost of the approved menu display,” Jespersen said in a statement.
“The original expense does not meet funding requirements for approval,” he said.
