At the last school board meeting, a trustee asked a question after the audit about what checks and balances exist beyond a basic audit. APS operates on a $55 million annual budget and this shouldn’t have been a controversial question and it should have been an easy one to answer. Instead the response was embarrassing, but I am sure taxpayers in Alpena County would like an answer too. The question was ignored and the response was a deflective and dismissive attack on the trustee. That response was alarming and unprofessional to me and every taxpayer in Alpena County. When leadership can’t answer a simple accountability question, my thought is, what do you have to hide? This raised red flags to me…where is the transparency?

If APS expects the community to continue to renew millages, it had better do a better job of explaining what measures can be given to ensure bus drivers, aides, custodial workers, and the like are getting their fair share.

Trust in APS is lost to me and the voting public. I think the superintendent owes the trustee and the voters an apology for the disrespectful and dismissive attitude towards her inquiry. Where are the checks and balances both internally and externally to ensure our tax dollars are being spent responsibly? She suggested a SUBJECTIVE look into the finances, cost control, and making sure allocated money is being used as intended. This is not where receipts match totals, or how many degrees one has, but where money is being used to ensure that the students at APS are being educated properly and employees are being paid fairly. This level of accountability is what tax payers want. If leadership can’t be accountable without being defensive, then that sends up an alarming flag with voters.

Joann Pinkerton

Alpena