Questions Continue at Riverwood

While rumors fly on whether former Riverwood principal Eddie Echols misused school funds, officials will continue to investigate findings of the recent audit that led to his resignation, according to Samantha Evans, executive director of Communications for Fulton County Schools.

On Wednesday, Evans added to her earlier comment that there has been no financial loss to the school, which is attended by students who live in Buckhead. “That’s at this point in looking at the report, but I’m sure this is something that the superintendent is going to looking into further,” she said.

Riverwood students are hearing that from athletic events were used to pay custodial staff, Patch has learned. A parent raised the question, separately, to Evans on Tuesday.

“A parent came in yesterday and was talking about that. I’ve asked him to send me something in writing. All I can say about the gate receipts is that is hearsay. It’s not something that’s verified but it is something that HR is looking into,” Evans said.

showed delays of up to nine days in the recording of gate receipts for athletic events. Receipts were recorded by the bookkeeper in the school’s receipt book after deposits appeared on bank statements.

On news of Echols resignation, a Riverwood parent told Patch that last year he had concerns about lack of oversight of the Allegiance fundraising campaign. Allegiance is tied to the Riverwood Foundation. Donations are used for grants that provide additional instruction for students. 

“All of the language describing it said this would be under the direct control of the principal. And I just reacted to that,” said the parent, who made a donation, and did not want their name revealed for this story.

The parent believes family donations for the Allegiance fund during 2010, totaled $188,000.

The audit report described a lack of documentation for donations but did not cite any fund names. There were donations in which it could not be verified if funds were used according to donors' wishes, the report said.

Eric de Groot, president of Riverwood Foundation, said Echols did not manage Allegiance monies.

“As it is clear now there was no embezzlement [by] Mr. Echols,” said de Groot. “It was just that the county had certain guidelines. And Mr Echols as an employee of the county did not follow these guidelines and he resigned.”