HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – A Long Island school district is under fire after a recent state report showed it squandered nearly a half-million dollars in questionable payments to employees.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli issued the results of an audit on the Hempstead Union Free School District Tuesday that alleges the district overpaid its superintendent, paid its former superintendent $291,143 in a secret separation agreement, and made $95,000 in vendor payments to a school board assistant, according to NBC.

The report also went beyond the district’s financial figures to criticize district officials for intentionally scheduling meetings at inconvenient times to avoid public scrutiny.

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“Actions in the Hempstead school district demonstrate a neglect of sound fiscal and administrative practices and a disregard for the interests of taxpayers,” DiNapoi said, adding that the audit “revealed a pattern of wasteful spending, poor decision making, sloppy record keeping and a lack of transparency.”

In total, the audit found $453,000 in questionable payments by Hempstead officials, the biggest by far was a $291,143 severance package spent on former superintendent Patricia Garcia during the 2012-13 school year.

At the same time, the district was paying her replacement, Susan Johnson, $7,000 to $11,000 more in her biweekly paychecks than her contract called for, according to the Associated Press.

Johnson and other school officials did not return calls for comment, CBS reports.

“The audit also found that during a period from July 2011 through September 2012 the district made $95,000 in vendor payments to a school board assistant whose duties mirrored those of the school district clerk,” according to the AP.

“District officials said the superfluous position was created by mistake and was later terminated, the audit says.”

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Those issues are some of “a myriad of systematic problems” in the district between July 2011 and March 2013, according to News 12’s analysis of the 50-page audit.

“The audit also found deficiencies in the district’s personnel practices. A total of three of the 23 employees reviewed were not qualified for their positions. In one case, an assistant coach was hired in 2012 even though the employee’s temporary coaching license had expired in 2010,” News 12 reports.

“According to the comptroller’s office, the school board repeatedly excluded the public from deliberations by calling ‘special’ or ‘emergency’ meetings, often with very little notice. Many of those meetings were held in the superintendent’s office, where there is no public seating. The report also found that the board went into ‘executive sessions’ at inappropriate times.”

School board president Lamont Johnson, who was not president during the audit’s time frame, told the media he’s working to fix the problems outlined in the report.

“As board president, it’s my job to make sure we’re fiscally responsible,” he told the news station Monday. “I’m concerned about the taxpayers and the amount they pay … We’re doing everything we can to make sure the money is being spent wisely.”

An attorney for former board president Betty Cross told News 12 they have no comment on the report.

The Nassau District Attorney’s Office told the station it’s investigating the school district, but also had no comment on the results of the audit.