PLATTSBURGH -- A state audit slammed Pyramids Child Development Center, saying the school improperly claimed reimbursement for nearly $240,000 in taxpayer money.

School officials are fighting back, arguing they can support their actions.

The audit, from the New York State Comptroller's Office, claims that some expenses were unexplained or undocumented, such as the preparation of Executive Director Melissa Dorsett-Felicelli's personal income taxes.

The report also recommends that the State Department of Education recover her $171,000 salary, citing the fact that she was not physically present at the school.

Dorsett-Felicelli lives in North Carolina, and the audit says that there was little evidence of the work she provided to justify her salary.

"Making sure that our kids with special needs get the care and attention they need early on is critical," State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said in a statement.

"But taxpayers have the right to expect that their money is being used for its intended purpose and for reasonable expenses. This organization engaged in improper practices that ultimately shortchanged taxpayers."

Pyramids opened in 2001 at the former St. Alexander's Catholic School on Route 22B in Morrisonville.

The school serves about 100 children with special needs and 24 children in off-site classrooms, some through a contract with Clinton County. It also delivers services to 75 children among Clinton, Essex and Washington counties.

The school made headlines last November when a number of the 104 employees picketed outside Champlain National Bank on Route 3 in Plattsburgh. The employees were complaining that they had not been paid in a month.

The bank had frozen the school's assets the day after Thanksgiving after a loan payment was not made.

Pyramids officials argued that the loan was not paid because reimbursements from the state had not yet arrived.

About a week later, the school sought protection to re-organize under Chapter 11.

Earlier this month, Pyramids notified families of students that tuition would be going up 5 percent on July 1 to accommodate a longer schedule. Tuition is slated to go up another 5 percent for all programs on Sept. 1.

AUDIT CRITICISMS