State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale says that due to reports of dysfunction among school board members in Old Forge School District, he will audit the district’s finances earlier than scheduled.

The announcement comes just two days after Jim Thorpe Area School District voted to hire Old Forge School District’s superintendent, John Rushefski, to take the same job in Jim Thorpe.

DePasquale announced on Wednesday he will move up the scheduled audit of Old Forge’s finances from the end of the calendar year to June. The report will follow up on recommendations from the district’s last state audit, which occurred in 2015.

“Educating students should be the top priority of every school district,” DePasquale said in a statement. “Following reports of serious dysfunction within the Old Forge school board, I believe it’s necessary to start my next audit in June rather than at the end of the year.”

DePasquale didn’t mention any district administrators in his announcement.

The dysfunction among Old Forge School board members has been well documented, but may be new to residents of Jim Thorpe Area School District.

The school board president has been called unfit to serve after the revelation that he posted numerous anti-Islamic social media posts. Another current board member was fired from a teaching position and accused of downloading pornography on a school-issued tablet.

After board president Frank Scavo’s online misbehavior was detailed in a March newspaper report group of state legislators wrote a letter saying that he is unfit to hold any office.

A couple weeks later, the board’s solicitor of 23 years said things were so bad that he resigned in March after 23 years on the job. Joseph E. Mariotti said in his resignation letter to Rushefski that staying in his position would negatively affect his business and his family.

Rushefski submitted his resignation to Old Forge April 30 after five years on the job. His contract with Jim Thorpe is for three years with a salary of $132,000 per year.

He said on Thursday that he was fully open with Jim Thorpe School District officials during the interview process.

“I did explain to the board some of the challenges. I believe that was on (TV) talking about we have differences of opinion with the board. There’s definitely those types of things,” he said.

Rushefski said he’s not worried about the outcome of the audit because he feels confident in his leadership approach through his years as an administrator.

He added that he can’t address the situation in Old Forge specifically because the district has prohibited him from speaking on their behalf while he transitions to his new job.

“In this situation they’ve asked me to not speak on behalf of the Old Forge School District, because I’m literally on my way out, and hopefully going to Jim Thorpe school district real soon,” Rushefski said.

Rushefski said he can talk about what he plans to do at Jim Thorpe Area School District, and that includes a fiscally responsible approach. He said that as an administrator, he has always used three criteria to approach any purchase or contract which comes before him — is it needed, can the district afford it, and can the district sustain it.

“We would use that three-prong test with virtually every purchase, every contract, and we want to certainly be responsible to the taxpayers of Jim Thorpe Area School District,” Rushefski said.