Although officials would not comment on the amount, it was enough to seriously affect school activities and to prompt the school district to begin an internal audit of the North Raleigh school's finances as well as contact police.

"It's sad that this is happening to any of my schools," said school board member Patti Head, whose district includes Leesville. "Leesville is a great school."

Michael Evans, a Wake schools spokesman, said Raleigh police have told school officials they'll hold off their investigation until the district finishes its inquiry. Evans said that the school district probe focuses on the 2006-07 school year and that officials do not suspect any wrongdoing by current school employees.

This isn't the first case of financial irregularities that has hit the school district in recent years. Wake took a black eye a few years ago for a multimillion-dollar scam involving fake invoices for the school transportation department.

The transportation fraud resulted in the school district beefing up its fraud-prevention efforts.

Evans was tight-lipped about what auditors think happened at Leesville Road. But parents say Patti Hamler, the school's principal, who was hired after police think fraud occurred, shed some details during a meeting in December.

Hamler didn't say how much money was missing, citing the investigation. But parent Angela Davis-Williams said Hamler told them it involved a "great deal of money."

Hamler did not return calls.

Parents say Hamler told them not only that money was missing but also that checks to pay the school's bills weren't sent. Lisa Boneham, a parent, said Hamler told them in December that they were still stumbling upon uncashed checks at the school.

Davis-Williams said Hamler told them school officials were also discovering unpaid bills in storage closets.

"She said it's a mess," Boneham said.

Floyd Lowman, who was the principal before resigning in August, said this week that he was not aware of any money being missing from the school.

There have been consequences for the bills not being paid. Hamler confirmed rumors about money problems at the school in a December meeting, when parents questioned why the athletic department had not gotten new equipment that had been ordered.

The school has had to dip into other areas of the budget to pay the old bills, Hamler said, according to Boneham and two other parents who were at the meeting.

Boneham said her daughter's basketball team has had to use old uniforms instead of new ones that had been ordered. She said the boys' basketball team didn't have enough road uniforms for all the players.

Parents praised Hamler for her efforts to deal with the situation.

"She was thrown into the situation and is really trying to get to the bottom of it," Boneham said.

Evans did not identify which former employee, or employees, are being investigated.

He said no restitution agreements had been reached. Wake often tries to get employees suspected of misappropriating funds to repay the money.

Despite recent efforts to crack down on fraud, Head said the school district can do only so much.

"I would hope this is an isolated incident," she said.

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