CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — The Charleston County School District is launching a new roundtable to connect school financial staff directly with the chief financial officer.
The Chief Financial Officer’s Financial Support Roundtable will bring 15 financial staff members together monthly with the chief financial officer and senior leadership. The representatives will gather input from their peers across the county before each meeting.
The roundtable is part of the district’s three-year Financial Services Strategic Plan. The plan aims to develop future financial leaders and improve support for staff handling school budgets and everyday finances.
The district historically holds a summer symposium to create training opportunities. Now, with this group, senior staff will get to engage more frequently with school representatives beyond summer training.
How the roundtable works
Before each meeting, representatives gather input from their peers including bookkeepers, budget managers and other finance staff.
“It helps engage them more because then they come back, you know, their peers that serve on those panels every month and say, ‘Hey, when you’re there in April, would you bring up this issue that I’ve been experiencing?’ And tell me what the group thinks,” Daniel Prentice, the Charleston County School District’s chief financial officer, said.
“Then principals are discussing it with us and we’re discussing it, you know, across our administration and it just really increases transparency and communication across the system,” Prentice said.
This is the first roundtable focusing on financial staff in the district. The district has created similar roundtables for students and superintendents that have gotten great feedback.
Starting in May, the group will serve for one school year, rotating between virtual and in-person sessions. The district plans to bring in new voices each year. The hope is with rotations, the group will continue to hear new ideas and improve job efficiency.
District officials hope the advisory group will improve staff retention and develop future leaders across schools. District leaders hope these frontline voices will provide a fuller picture of each school’s financial needs and help streamline processes across the district.
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