JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The new superintendent of Duval County schools is under fire from his former employer, some saying he took a bad situation and made it worse.

Dr. Joseph Wise spent two years running the 19,000-student Christina school district in Delaware before being hired in November to lead the Duval County school district. Reports coming from Delaware say Wise's former district is in the midst of a financial crisis, with the state auditor saying the program is in shambles.

"The situation is so bleak it needs to be seriously discussed whether the state needs to step in and take over the school district," said Thomas Wagner Jr., Delaware state auditor, told the local newspaper. "It's going to shock a whole lot of people."

Among the criticism of an audit ordered by Christina's new superintendent:

• The district has a $13.5-million deficit.
• Record-keeping was so inadequate, there's no exact number of how many employees are on the payroll.
• Employee layoffs, a tax increase or a supplemental appropriation by the Delaware General Assembly may be required.

The Christina School Board is to meet in a special session Thursday to address the deficit and other problems uncovered by the audit.

Wagner said the school district had its share of financial problems before Wise took over, but things got far worse under his leadership. Wagner blames the Christina Board of Education not doing its job and incompetence in the school district, two things he said Wise should have been monitoring.

"We have never had this problem in the state of Delaware before," Wagner told Channel 4's Jennifer Bauer. "They're not going to work it out in the next year or two. It's going to take a lot to work it out."

Wise, the Duval County School Board's unanimous pick to become superintendent in last November, said Wednesday he would have no comment until he sees the audit, which is expected to be released to the public on Friday.

Wise's chief business Officer, Thresa Giles -- one of several people hired for his management team from the Christina schools system -- said they had been audited before with indication of any problems.

"I'm just as stunned as he is to have something like this come out," Giles said. "Talking with the staff (in Delaware), and they don't believe it as well. They're still working to make those numbers are correct."

School board member Tommy Hazouri told Channel 4 that he still has confidence in Wise.

On The Net: Read About The Audit On DelawareOnline