Plymouth School Attorney clarifies rumor of a theft of money

Last week, GIANT fm WTCA was informed that some employees in the Plymouth Community School Corporation’s (PCSC) Administration office were terminated, and it appeared to the public that it was being kept quiet. We were told money was missing, the FBI had investigated, and four employees were terminated.    

WTCA asked PCSC Superintendent Mitch Mawhorter if he could clarify the rumor, and he asked the corporation’s attorney, Sean Surrisi, to respond.   

Surrisi confirmed that there was “a nugget of truth” in the information given to WTCA, but there was some exaggeration.

Surrisi said, “There was no stolen money, nor an FBI investigation. He said the incident involved the payment of some stipends to seven staff members through grants without following the proper grant procedures for approval of the payments.”

The school attorney told WTCA, “Under school policies, upon the discovery of the incident, we voluntarily reported it to the State, and we worked with the Indiana State Police to investigate everything.”  Surrisi said once they learned of the issue, six of the seven individuals fully repaid the stipends they had received, and the seventh individual has made arrangements to repay the stipend over time.

On April 22, two staff members were terminated for failure to follow school policies and procedures associated with the stipend payments described. Under the school policy, those terminations must be approved by the Plymouth Community School Board to be final. They will be considered as part of the regular consent agenda at the next school board meeting on June 10th.