Proposed WCPS budget includes $350,000 for legal services

There are a few big ticket items in the draft 2020-21 budget proposal for Wayne County Public Schools that are drawing attention as the district waits for its new interim superintendent to officially take office and as questions swirl about a 2019 audit and an estimated $5 million deficit.

In the proposed budget, under the category “Board of Education Contracted Services,” $350,000 is assigned to “Districtwide Professional Legal.”

The category is not broken down into subcategories, so there is no indication of how much of that line item — if not all — goes to the board’s attorney, Richard Schwartz of Schwartz & Shaw PLLC of Raleigh.

Schwartz has been an active participant in the latest discussions regarding the audit, the financial deficit and former Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunsmore’s departure. He took the lead in questioning the woman who presented the findings of the audit to the board last week.

Schwartz is a founding partner of the Raleigh firm, which specializes in education law. According to the firm’s website, since its establishment in 1991, it has “performed services for more than 90 school systems in North Carolina.”

One of those systems is Tyrell County, the same district where Dunsmore served as superintendent from 2009 to 2015, when he was hired to take the job in Wayne County. Schwartz has represented the Wayne school board since 2017.

Schwartz is also connected to Aaron Beaulieu, whose firm, School Operations Specialists, just signed a $140 per hour contract “not to exceed $41,000,” to review and to make recommendations on operations, cost reduction and revenue enhancements for the district.

The contract states that Beauileu, whose company has been a registered limited liability company since February 2020, will manage the operation with support from “various subcontractors.”

The subcontractors are not listed. However, the firm, DavenportLawrence, will also assist.

Beaulieu is the former chief financial officer of Durham Public Schools and was interim superintendent for the district at the same time Wayne County’s interim superintendent, Dr. James Merrill, was in charge of neighboring Wake County Schools.

Also included in the board’s services line item is $40,000 for “Contracted services audit.”

The aforementioned 2019-20 audit, which was presented last week and was submitted to WCPS officials in November, was completed by the Greensboro office of Rives and Associates LLP, an accounting firm headquartered in Raleigh.

The New Old North has requested copies of Schwartz’s contract as well as all legal billings from 2019.

The district has acknowledged the request but has indicated that there will be delays in getting the information — the initial request was made June 5; a second request followed Monday morning — because of “trouble accessing the records.”

Communications and public relations officer Ken Derksen said with “key leadership no longer in place I am having trouble accessing the records to release.”

“As is my protocol, I will release all records as they are provided to me (meaning I won’t sit on them to release all at one time),” Derksen added. “I will also work to ensure all records being released are accurate and not incomplete.”

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