Oregon Public Broadcasting

Leaders of Oregon's school boards association say they didn't just fire their director to head in a new direction. Rob Manning reports that a confidential audit apparently showed management problems.

The Oregon School Boards Association won't release the critical December audit until Friday night – at its next board meeting.

Officials say the findings of that report -- heard so far only in closed sessions -- led leaders to call a special meeting on January 7th. At that meeting, OSBA fired director Kevin McCann and deputy director Dori Brattain for cause.

When OSBA first announced the firings a week and a half ago, officials spoke of the need for new leadership, but they didn't mention the audit.

Now, OSBA has issued a statement saying it is working with a forensic auditor and an outside attorney to dig more deeply into financial and management records. The statement says it expects that review to be completed  "in the near future."

OSBA offers services to Oregon’s school board members, such as training, superintendent searches, and lobbying. It has about 35 full-time employees.