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Fort Berthold residents petition North Dakota to audit Parshall Public School District

The State Auditor's Office said the audit should be completed around the end of May.

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North Dakota state Auditor Josh Gallion appeared before the Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee. Tom Stromme / Bismarck Tribune

BISMARCK — The North Dakota State Auditor's Office has launched an audit into the finances of the Parshall Public School District on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

The audit was requested through a petition compiling 81 signatures of people who live within the district. The impetus for the petition was not made public.

The State Auditor's Office says this is the second citizen-requested audit to occur in the last two years, the first one being an audit of the Belcourt Public School District on the Turtle Mountain Reservation.

“I take the efforts from citizens initiating this review seriously and appreciate their engagement," said State Auditor Joshua Gallion in a statement. "We look forward to working with the staff to identify opportunities for improvement.”

The State Auditor's Office will audit financial statements for the years ending in June 2018 and June 2019, according to a letter Gallion sent to Parshall School Board President Michelle Hoff.

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"The objective of our audit is the expression of opinions as to whether your basic financial statements are fairly presented," the letter states.

Hoff told The Forum that the Parshall School Board met last week to inform board members that employees from the state were going to visit the district as part of the audit. She did not respond to an inquiry asking for comment about the audit.

The Parshall Public School District audit should be completed around the end of May, according to the State Auditor's Office.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Michelle Griffith, a Report for America corps member, at mgriffith@forumcomm.com.

Michelle (she/her, English speaker) is a Bismarck-based journalist for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered topics and communities.

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