Matt Blondell, director with audit firm RSM, updated the Clay County School Board on the firm's internal audit work and introduced a monthly dashboard the firm proposes to publish to the board and audit committee.

Blondell said the dashboard, drafted Oct. 3, would track ongoing projects, recently completed items and next steps and that RSM plans to deliver it on a monthly cadence. "It essentially just provides a summary of all of the ongoing projects that we have, and then where we are, what we've recently completed, what we're doing, and what kind of our next steps are," Blondell said.

Blondell described two active lines of work: contract‑compliance sampling and internal/external cybersecurity penetration testing. For contract compliance, RSM selected a five‑contract sample across different contract types, including services and larger and medium contracts, to assess procurement and amendment practices. On cybersecurity, Blondell said testing has been completed and that a sensitive technical report will have a public one‑page summary and an option for a closed session briefing to discuss detailed findings with board members and the superintendent.

Board members discussed public access to audit materials and the district's audit committee web folder. "When you started hearing kind of like an uprising about how we're not transparent, would you please click on that folder," one board member said, noting the folder then contained only an older application and created the appearance that materials were being withheld.

Several members supported posting minutes, agendas, final reports and recorded meetings to a publicly accessible internal‑audit page. One board member expressed concern about staff hours required to prepare materials and livestream meetings. Blondell and administrative staff said the dashboard is typically used as an internal update for the board and audit committee but is available for distribution. The board directed staff to create an internal audit tab on the school board webpage and to post agendas, minutes and final reports; the majority of board members indicated support for posting the dashboard as well.

On cybersecurity, Blondell reiterated that detailed penetration‑testing findings are sensitive and would be accompanied by a public summary; he said RSM could present the full findings in closed session if the board requests it.

The board did not take a formal roll‑call vote on a motion to post the dashboard, but multiple members said they supported posting audit committee materials and creating a dedicated audit tab.