GONZALES - The Louisiana Legislative Auditor said the Ascension Parish School Board failed to inform the parish's District Attorney after an employee allegedly stole over $10,000 from Central Middle School.

Kayla Jones, 33, was accused of stealing $12,624.92 from Central Middle School while she worked as the school's secretary in June 2025.

The school system said they reached out to the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office when discovering potential theft of funds at Central Middle School and initiated an investigation.

"The employee was arrested and prosecuted; no restitution had been made or insurance claim filed as of the date of the report," the auditor said.

In the audit, the Ascension Parish School Board said they would "strengthen internal controls and provide written notification to the District Attorney immediately if reasonable cause exists to believe misappropriation of funds has occurred."

"The audit is correct that we were supposed to notify the DA's office," a spokesperson with Ascension Parish Schools told WBRZ. "We notified law enforcement and the legislative auditor's office, but we did not notify the DA. That is a gap in our procedures that we have corrected."

The full audit is available here.