Police investigating ‘considerable financial loss’ at NC Civil War era Burwell School
The historic Burwell School is working with Hillsborough police to investigate “a considerable financial loss” after finding discrepancies under a now-former executive director.
No arrests have been made; a Hillsborough Police Department spokeswoman said the investigation is ongoing.
The 2-acre Burwell School is owned and operated by the nonprofit Historic Hillsborough Commission. Most of the nonprofit’s 29 commissioners are appointed by the North Carolina governor.
It includes a home and classroom that Robert and Margaret Anna Burwell built in the 1800s when they opened the Academy for Young Ladies.
The site today explores the history of the school, the town of Hillsborough and the enslaved people and free people of color who worked there, including Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly, a slave who gained her freedom in 1855, becoming the dressmaker and confidante to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.
The Historic Hillsborough Commission learned this spring that there were discrepancies between the Burwell School’s bank statements and financial reports, according to a news release. The Burwell School’s executive director was asked to explain the discrepancies but could not, the news release stated.
She was immediately terminated, and the commission hired the Blackman and Sloop accounting firm to help with an internal investigation, it stated. The commission also added “financial safeguards,” such as having Blackman and Sloop provide monthly bookkeeping and financial reports, it said.
“The assembled evidence suggests that the Burwell School Historic Site has sustained a considerable financial loss,” the news release stated. “That evidence has now been turned over to the Hillsborough Police Department for criminal investigation. Because the matter is now in the hands of law enforcement, the Commission will make no further comment at this time about the facts and circumstances of the loss.”
Kate Faherty, another of the Burwell School’s former directors, is voluntarily running the site now with help from other commissioners and volunteers, according to the news release and a contract with the Hillsborough Tourism Board.
The Burwell School, which was closed for two weeks in June, continues to meet its financial and operational obligations, officials said.
“The Burwell School Historic Site has lost none of its intrinsic historical and cultural significance,” they said. “It remains a precious asset to the community, open to the public. The Commission is committed to the preservation and interpretation of the Burwell School Historic Site and to continuing to host events of public interest.”
Tourism Board grant
Hillsborough’s economic development planner, Shannan Campbell, said the town’s Tourism Board learned about the Burwell School’s financial problems in late June just as it was about to sign a grant contract for July 2019 through June 2020.
The town’s $26,139 Tourism Board grant comprises about a third of this year’s $74,368 Burwell School budget, according to the contract. The money comes from tourism revenues raised by a 1% tax on prepared food and beverages, Campbell said.
The Burwell School also got a $9,000 grant from Orange County, with the rest coming from fundraisers and other events, the contract noted. This year, the site’s current and former commissioners also raised over $19,000 from themselves to “take the lead in giving to the Burwell School.” The contract also noted that costs are increasing because of needed changes in board management and oversight.
The new contract with the Burwell School was delayed until its commissioners could provide the Tourism Board with a revised annual work plan and information about how future problems could be avoided, Campbell said.
The commissioners provided that information in September, she said. The Tourism Board also has discussed the need to be “a little bit more critical” of their partners and to ask for regular audits, she said.
“From the Tourism Board’s perspective, this is really something unfortunate that happened,” Campbell said. “We’re hoping it’s an isolated incident but recognizing that the Burwell School board has to do better. The expectation is that when funds are given out to do things, that that money is spent the way it’s said that it’s going to be spent.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2019 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Police investigating ‘considerable financial loss’ at NC Civil War era Burwell School."
