A surprise visit by representatives of the Ohio Auditor's office found that two community schools in Youngstown had far fewer students in class than what had been reported to the Ohio Department of Education.  A state audit also questions attendance figures at two other local schools.

According to an audit released on Thursday, auditors and investigators from the auditor's office conducted announced visits to thirty community schools around the state on October 1, 2014 in response to reports of irregular attendance and enrollment practices.

The Academy for Urban Scholars on Fifth Avenue and the Life Skills Center on Market Street in Youngstown were among those visited.

The audit says that the Academy for Urban Scholars, which had reported an enrollment of 95 just a few months earlier, had zero students at the school that day.

Academy Director Kevin Ellerbe later explained to state auditors that investigators found no students in class on October 1, because the school had a 12:30 dismissal that day due to practice sessions for state testing.

During a November 3 follow up visit, auditors say they counted 37 students at the Academy.

When investigators visited the Life Skills Center of Youngstown on October 1, they counted 30 students that day. The audit says that attendance number was 83 percent fewer students than July 2014 enrollment estimates.

The administrator for Life Skills told the auditor that attendance is low when weather is bad and when Youngstown City Schools are off for the day. The administrator also said that the head count was low because it was conducted early that morning and a lot of students came to class later that day.

The audit also names five other community schools in Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland and Cincinnati that were found to have attendance variances of 34 percent or higher.

All seven schools are classified as Dropout Recovery and Prevention schools by ODE and serve predominantly dropout recovery students.

The Auditor of State's office is referring The Academy for Urban Scholars, Life Skills Center and the five other schools to the Ohio Department of Education and their sponsors for further investigation.

Two other Youngstown community schools are among a second set of nine schools identified as having attendance variances of 10 percent or more, but were considered less severe or substantiated in some way.

The October 1 visit found that Summit Academy of Youngstown had fifteen percent fewer students

compared to July 2014 attendance estimates, and Summit Academy Secondary School had 36 percent fewer students in class that day.

Management of Summit Academy responded to the auditor, saying that there are four other locations where students are being taught, and investigators did not visit those locations during the October 1 visit.

The auditor is recommending that the Ohio Department of Education perform a review on Summit Academy and its attendance rate.

The remaining 14 schools were found to have attendance variances of 10 percent or less, and the Auditor of State's office does not believe they require further investigation by ODE.

The report provides four policy recommendations to the Ohio Department of Education and one policy recommendation for community school sponsors. Auditor Yost stressed that Ohio needs legislative reform to strengthen the integrity of community schools and restore public confidence.

The report also notes that no issues were found at nearly half the thirty schools visited.