Stephens Co. Schools Finance Director Search to Start in Near Future

Stephens County School Superintendent Bryan Dorsey said the school system will hopefully start advertising the Finance Director’s position in the near future.

Angel Terry submitted a letter of resignation last week from that position, according to Dorsey, who says the Board of Education must still officially accept that letter at their next board meeting later this month.

Dorsey said with everything taking place in the school system right now, he does not have a set timeline for filling the post.

He did say finding the right fit is important.

“The fact that we are trying to find someone that will have a long-term commitment to our community is important in this process,” said Dorsey. “But we also need someone who has an understanding of the financial background and obviously public financing (experience) is something we are aggressively going to seek because it is so different.”

In the meantime, Dorsey said the staff on hand is adjusting to the situation and re-working duties to ensure that everything is handled as it should be.

“We have just been trying to manage the day-to-day operations, making sure our bills are getting paid, making sure that we know where we are at financially to meet our obligations to our staff and to our vendors,” said Dorsey.

Meanwhile as the school system searches for a finance director, it is also preparing for its Fiscal Year 2014 audit.

Dorsey said he is unsure how the finance director vacancy will impact the audit timeline, but hopes to know more about the audit soon.

“I actually meet with the Department of Audits for a preliminary meeting next Tuesday during Spring Break, so I will be meeting with them to work out how we want to do a joint preparations of financial statements and then conduct the audit,” said Dorsey.

Terry served as Finance Director for about eight months after being hired in late July 2014.

She is also the school system’s fourth finance director since the start of 2013, with none serving for more than a year.

Dorsey said he understands that can cause a level of concern.

“When you have gone through as many finance directors as the Stephens County school system has over the last two years, you cannot help but be alarmed,” said Dorsey. “One of the challenges we face is that this job is so stressful in trying to get back and correct all of these errors for all of us, not just the finance director.”

That said, Dorsey said he is confident in the school system’s ability to handle necessary financial duties while undergoing this transition.