When you think of February, you often think of Groundhog’s Day, Valentine’s Day and even President’s Day weekend as a nice little break. The Mecosta-Osceola ISD had all of these this year plus an added bonus–a Michigan State Police, Criminal Justice Information Center informational audit of our fingerprint records. I doubt this will turn into a Hallmark holiday, but stranger things have happened!
The process started when we received an email on February 1, 2011, notifying us that we had been lucky enough to be selected for an audit. The email indicated they would be conducting an on-site ‘Informational Audit” on February 15, 2011 from 10:30A.M. – 12:30 P.M. Included with the email were three attachments: an agenda for the actual visit, a pre-audit questionnaire and a random sample of ten (10) people we had recently fingerprinted. We had to complete and return the questionnaire by February 9, 2011. The two staff members from the MSP that you will work with on this audit are Louanna Hovorka hovorkl@michigan.gov and/or Narcisa Morris morrisn@michigan.gov. Be nice and remember they are just the messengers. They did not create the regulations; they have just been charged with enforcing them. They are both kind and professional in carrying out these duties.
My first question was why us, and my second question was why the need for an audit in the first place. The driving force behind the audit is the FBI. They conducted an audit of the State of Michigan which found some deficiencies -- hence the MSP setting up informational audits for all sites. For those of you who ask what authority are they operating under, it is MCL 380.1230a. Furthermore, for those who are a little stubborn like me, it just comes down to the fact that they hold the information we need and if we want it (which we do if we want to protect our children and comply with the law) then we must play by their rules. They indicated that this was the first round and then we would be put on a three (3) year cycle. Not all audits are on-site; some will merely be a self audit conducted through the mail. At this point in time they are not imposing any sanctions for violations; however, the FBI will be conducting their own audits and they will probably not be as nice as our own MSP. Don’t think the FBI is coming? Our auditors indicated that the FBI has already visited Holt Schools and a district in the Upper Peninsula.
To read the entire article, which includes audit questions and more details, click here.