James Briscoe of Briscoe Consulting presented an independent financial review to the Riverside Local School District board, saying his ‘‘forensic style’’ review of audited financials, the general ledger and check register identified structural and transparency concerns while noting ‘‘no criminal activity has been noted.’'

Briscoe told the board that monthly board packets contain detailed line items but limited narrative and that the district lacked regular variance and midyear budget‑to‑actual reviews. He flagged recurrent problems in the check register — zero‑quantity entries, negative unit prices and missing descriptions — and said these issues ‘‘reduce transparency and weaken audit trails.’'

On permanent improvement (PI) funds, Briscoe said a transactional review of fund 003033 found PI revenue of $14 million from 2020–2024 and expenditures of $25.1 million, with an initial $5.1 million misalignment reduced to $4.62 million after reclassifying grouped technology purchases. He recommended treating misaligned charges as operational, documenting the reclassification, restoring PI capital through a proposed transfer of about $4.6 million and establishing stronger PI approval controls and project‑level accounting.

District finance staff and the treasurer pushed back during questioning, saying staff reran the USAS export and reconciled counts differently. The treasurer said many apparent dormant accounts were advances or carryovers and that some overspend signals in Briscoe’s pull were explained by construction encumbrances from prior years.

Board members debated whether to accept the report immediately or delay for further review. The board approved a resolution to accept the Briscoe Financial Analysis and related work by a 3–2 vote: Mister Fischel Aye; Miss Brewster Aye; Miss Kraninski Nay; Missus Grassi Nay; Mister Keeney Aye. The resolution does not itself implement the report's recommendations; staff indicated they will continue reconciling details and examine corrective steps such as monthly exceptions reporting, PI coding controls and midyear variance reviews.

The board’s action makes the Briscoe findings part of the public record; Briscoe emphasized his review was not an audit and said invoice‑level testing would be required to convert coding flags into formal findings. The board did not vote on any immediate transfers or corrective motions tied directly to the report at that meeting.