Richmond Public Schools did not buy 4,115 kindergarten dictionaries.

A month ago, that was cited as a particularly egregious example of waste pointed out in a city audit of school-system finances.

The report from the city's internal auditor, Umesh Dalal, is a snapshot of school-system procurement and accounts-payable practices for the 21 months ending March 31, 2007. In scope and result, it mirrors an audit Dalal did of the city that was released in February.

Now the school system is on its way to correcting some of the problems cited in the audit. As for the dictionaries, said Jim Damm, the interim chief financial officer for the school system, they were purchased -- but for first and second-graders in addition to kindergartners.

"That means we have one for every two students, not two for every one student," he said.

. . .

The purchase was wrong in the audit, though, because it was wrong on paper. Whoever filled out the invoice simply wrote "kindergarten."

It's that lack of attention to detail that got the school system in trouble in the first place. Changing the culture, Damm said, is the challenge.

The school audit is 97 pages of damning evidence, anecdotes and observations that portray a school system in financial disarray. A 19-page section that follows includes 102 recommendations for change.

The dictionaries are one of 11 discrepancies in textbooks alone. Other sections detail everything from missing paperwork to a warehouse operation where it cost 50 cents to oversee every $1 of inventory to suggestions for millions of dollars in savings.

A month after the release of the audit -- and nearly two months since school officials first saw it -- 20 of the 102 recommendations have been acted on, and plans are either in place or being discussed for fixing the rest.

Completely fixing the system could take years, and how that fix works out depends greatly on who is hired to fill several top-level vacancies, including superintendent and a permanent finance chief.

"The bulk of the balance are things that are systemic," said Damm. "They can be looked at individually, but they are part of a system."

. . .

When he came on board late last year after the departure of the school's longtime financial chief, Damm inherited a system long accustomed to working with little or no oversight. It had outdated computer systems, inefficient means of tracking -- or, more often, not tracking -- inventory and control systems that placed too much responsibility in the wrong hands.

"Sometimes it's a people problem, sometimes it's a system problem, sometimes it's a culture problem," Damm said. "Right now, a lot of the areas we have to work with in Richmond, we have some cultural issues. We need to change the thought patterns because some of them are outdated. That includes people, that includes boards and councils, that includes mayors and superintendents."

A month after releasing his audit, Dalal said he's pleased with the progress being made.

"They're doing everything they should be doing," he said. "We found the school division to be very receptive to our recommendations. The superintendent saw a significant amount of opportunity to improve operations."

. . .

The same can't be said for the city as a whole, the auditor said. "The school division was significantly more receptive [than the city]," Dalal said. "They were willing to make appropriate changes in a timely manner. I wish the city had the same eagerness to make changes."

Kim Bridges, the School Board member in charge of the Audit Committee, said the ambiguity that once left the board's own auditor at a loss for dedicated assignments is becoming a thing of the past. The board is reviewing, revising and updating its policies and procedures, she said.

"You don't have to micromanage if you have good policies and good oversight in place," she said.

Those are coming, Bridges said. The board is reviewing its entire manual, with the hope of having updates by this fall.

Response to the audit has to be "swift, serious and steady," she said, emphasizing the last word.

"On some things, you absolutely have to respond quickly. But you can't do that at the expense of things where you need a thoughtful, serious approach."

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or zreid@timesdispatch.com.