Audit Objective
Did Jasper-Troupsburg Central School District (District) officials properly conduct and report emergency drills?
Audit Period
July 1, 2023 – June 24, 2025
Understanding the Audit Area
Emergency drills include instructional school building (building) evacuation and lockdown drills and emergency bus drills (bus drills). Evacuation drills practice emergency procedures, evacuation routes and evacuation sites. Evacuation is used in response to various building emergencies such as fire, gas leak, roof collapse or flooding. Lockdown drills practice the essential steps necessary to lockdown in an emergency. Bus drills are conducted to learn the location, use and operation of the emergency doors, fire extinguishers, first-aid equipment and windows as a means of escape from fire or accident. These drills provide staff and students with instructions and training to help respond appropriately in an emergency.
Responsibilities for the emergency drills are delegated to various District officials, as detailed in Appendix A’s Profile section.
Audit Summary
District officials did not conduct all required drills or conduct all drills within the required time frames and officials could not support that they met all drill requirements. Officials also did not conduct all required bus drills, did not ensure all students participated in bus drills, did not file the required New York State Education Department (SED) annual certification for bus drills or properly notify parents or persons in parental relations (together “parents”) of drills as required in 2024-25.
Without adequate emergency instruction and training, District officials cannot ensure that staff and students are prepared for emergencies. Additionally, without properly notifying parents in advance of building drills, parents may not have sufficient information to ask questions about procedures or be prepared to discuss the drills as necessary with their children. In addition, properly informing parents can also help to avoid any unnecessary panic that an actual emergency is occurring and assists parents in recognizing and contributing to being prepared for emergencies.
The report includes four recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the District’s emergency drills operations. District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and their response is included in Appendix B.
We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the Office of the New York State Comptroller’s (OSC) authority as set forth in Article 3 of New York State General Municipal Law (GML). Our methodology and standards are included in Appendix C.
The Board of Education (Board) has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. A written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the findings and recommendations in this report must be prepared and provided to our office within 90 days, pursuant to Section 35 of GML, Section 2116-a (3)(c) of the Education Law and Section 170.12 of the Regulations. To the extent practicable, implementation of the CAP must begin by the end of the next fiscal year. For more information on preparing and filing your CAP, please refer to our brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which you received with the draft audit report. The CAP should be posted on the District’s website for public review.