president’s message
Connecting With Our Communities
By Ed Chabal 2021 Board of Directors
Bill Sutter, SFO Vice President
O
Claire Hertz, CSBA, SFO Immediate Past President
David J. Lewis Executive Director Susan Harkin, SFO Director through 2021
n August 10, 2020, as my son was attending a new teacher inservice for the Cedar Rapids Community School
District, the second-largest school district in Iowa, a rare storm called a “derecho” hit the city without warning, bringing sustained winds of 125 miles per hour for more than 40 minutes.
John Hutchison, CPA, SFO Director through 2021
David Ginsberg Director through 2022 Ryan Stechschulte Director through 2022 Wanda Erb Director through 2023
Nearly half of the tree canopy that had taken hundreds of years to mature was destroyed in less than one hour, and every school build- ing sustained damage. Members of the staff and the community immediately pitched in to ensure that the city and schools could return to a somewhat normal routine as soon as pos- sible. Cleanup continues to this day. As school leaders, we recognize the impor- tance of building trust with the communities that support us in our mission to educate stu- dents. To build that trust, we must establish a strategy of open communication to regularly inform the public about district activities. We must realize that we, too, are educators as we explain the financial condition of the district. It is important to reach out not only when we are asking for taxpayer dollars to support an upcoming project but also when we have stories to share about the successes of our staff and students. Several ASBO International programs reinforce the trust between districts and their communities. Participation in the Meritori- ous Budget Award program demonstrates the transparency of the district budget process with the school board, parents, staff, and com- munity. This program provides a full picture of the budget, the content and process used to build the budget, the district’s goals and objec- tives, and comparable data from prior years as well as projected years.
Aubrey Kirkpatrick Director through 2023
The Certificate of Excellence program rec- ognizes those districts that have gone above and beyond in their annual financial reporting to produce a comprehensive annual report
asbointl.org
that conveys the current financial standing of the district as well as financial data from prior years. In my 20 years of participating in this program, I have found that the recognition the district receives when it is awarded the COE highlights the transparency with which the district shares its financial information with the public.
As school leaders, we recognize the importance of building trust with the communities that support us in our mission . . .
During the past year and a half, we have heard many stories about how districts have gone above and beyond to help their students and communities cope with the pandemic. Nothing in recent history prepared the staffs to respond to this crisis, and yet they came through. Willow Kriegel, nutrition services director
of the West Des Moines (Iowa) Community School District, recently described how her staff worked with other district staff and community members to get much-needed food to students and their families. The thank you notes she shared with me reinforced the concepts of why we are in education and the impact that our schools have on our communities.
If we connect and share with those outside our districts, we will succeed in creating com- munities in which our youth can prosper.
Ed Chabal
Chief Financial Officer Mt. Pleasant (Iowa) Community School District
SCHOOL BUSINESS AFFAIRS | JULY/AUGUST 2021 5
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