Letter

North Dakota State Auditor Completes Audit of Williston Public School District #1

Williston, N.D., (February 1, 2023) –  The North Dakota State Auditor’s office (SAO) has notified the Williston Basin School District #7 (WBSD7) that its office has concluded its audit of Williston School District One’s June 30, 2021, financial statements and it will be releasing the audit report and findings on its website on February 1, 2023.   

The SAO also indicated that they will be verbally presenting the audit and its findings at the regular WBSD7 school board meeting scheduled for February 6, 2023. This meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 PM and will be held at the Williston Community Library, 1302 Davidson Drive, Williston, ND.

A summary of the audit report includes 21 audit findings, all of which the current administration has responded to and provided the State Auditor's Office (SAO) with a corrective action plan to address each of these audit findings. WBSD7’s current administration and school board are committed to implementing these corrective action plans, reviewing all processes and procedures that contributed to these audit findings, and implementing change processes and procedures district-wide as may be appropriate. We are also committed to establishing our community’s confidence in WBSD7’s fiduciary responsibilities.

Our Strategic Plan was created with community input and serves as the roadmap for future progress to provide an excellent education for every student attending WBSD7’s schools. These Strategic Plan goals will enable our graduates to be prepared for college, careers, and life.

The newly elected WBSD7 School Board and the new administration are committed to correcting the audit violations made in the past by previous administration and business managers.

We are committed to being good stewards of the resources, financial and other, that we have been entrusted with. 

We are also committed to addressing community member questions regarding former Williston School District One’s 2020-2021 audit. Please utilize our established process to submit questions by accessing our Comments & Inquiries form, located on our homepage of www.willistonschools.org.   

Thank you for your support as we learn from mistakes made in the past and strive as a new administration and school board to be better in the future.  

 

Respectfully,

Dr. Richard H. Faidley