Lee Schools loses $99K in property

Everyone loses things — including Lee County Schools.

The sixth-largest school district in Florida is "unable to locate" 46 items of school property that originally cost the district a total of $99,000, according September data.

Some of the missing items, like strollers and camcorders, seem like easy things to misplace. But some of the more sizable items — like an electric keyboard or a commercial refrigerator — may leave some asking: "How in the world did they lose that?"

William Tubb, Lee's executive director of financial services, said things are commonly lost as the result of two circumstances: either someone threw away the item and didn't alert the proper people, or the item was moved to a new school unbeknownst to the district.

Either way, the circumstances typically involve some sort of protocol breach — something Tubb said he is trying to curb.

The most expensive item the district lost was one of the smallest: Ellis Business Suite software, which is worth about $6,000. The next priciest item missing is a $5,413 commercial refrigerator.

"Some of it is cafeteria property that gets moved from one school to another without anyone knowing, and a year or two later we'll find it," Tubb explained. "With the software, it could be that the disc was in a computer that was (retired)."

Among other eyebrow-raising lost items and their original values:

• An EZ-GO golf cart worth $1,100

• A tuba worth $3,000

• A Life Fitness stationary bike worth $2,200

• An HP laserjet printer worth $2,000

The items listed on the report were missing for more than two years and have now been officially eliminated from the district's inventory, per a Sept. 23 School Board vote.

While a handful of schools lost one or two items, Cape Coral High stood out. It lost 10 items originally worth $24,712, which is 25 percent of the value lost across the entire district. Taking second place, the district's food service warehouse lost $13,804 — 16 percent of the missing goods. Cape Coral Principal Scott Cook did not respond to The News-Press by the time of publication.

Tubb said all principals whose schools lost things must attend some sort of meeting with district officials. Lost assets could even lead to the principal's termination, he said.

While the 46 missing items are not technically listed as stolen, Tubb said it is "absolutely" possible that some were. The going rate for an EZ-GO golf cart on Fort Myers Craigslist is about $2,000. Life Fitness stationary bikes sell for about $1,000 on eBay.

For items to be deemed stolen, the respective school administrators have to file police reports, he said. If a police report isn't filed, the item is simply listed as missing. Only two items on the inventory — lawnmowers originally worth $7,000 each — were classified as stolen.

Tubb said he will continue to look for the lost inventory.

"Of the $99,000, would I say a percentage of it would be found? I have no way of telling you that. But when we do, we put them back on the books."

The 46 missing items amounted to less than one percent of Lee Schools' $1.2 billion inventory.

Other items missing in action:

Choir risers: $2,387

Sound system: $1,695

Bassoon: $1,966

Three LCD projectors: $2,100 each

Stoller: $1,277

Source: September Lee Schools district data

Collier County Public Schools face many of the same challenges with its inventory.

Collier reported 91 items as "lost or stolen" during the 2013 fiscal year, according to district data. The items were not given monetary values, but included items similar to Lee's such as tubas, a projector, audio systems and camcorders.

Jennifer Weimer, a Collier Schools spokeswoman, said items are usually lost due to paperwork not being completely properly – just like in Lee.

"For example, a projector may no longer be working and unable to be repaired," she wrote in an email to the News-Press. "When the item is replaced, the broken projector may be discarded without the proper notification to our inventory records. Other examples include an item being moved without paperwork or an inventory sticker falling off."

Unlike Lee, however, Collier Schools reports all missing and stolen items to the Collier County Sherriff at the end of the each fiscal year.