The Peoria Public Schools Board of Education has hired an interim chief financial officer to oversee the District 150 accounts, bridging a gap until the administration selects a permanent CFO.
Marcus Alexander, a former superintendent with Calumet Public Schools in the Chicago area, will serve a term of no more than 75 days, compensated at $800 per day.
“It’s a stopgap measure, so to speak, because the position is still going to be advertised. We’re not going to pull it,” Superintendent Jerry Bell told the board during Monday’s meeting.
“Dr. Alexander and I spoke last week, he and I [are] sitting down and mapping out his 75 days, and if it takes 73, 72, 70, 69 days until we get someone on a permanent basis, then that's what we'll cut it off at that. But he's committed to giving us on an interim basis, 75 days, because he knows we're in dire straits.”
Bell said Alexander will be tasked with making recommendations to the board on how to improve the district’s cash position.
“He's retired; he doesn't have a a stake in the game, so to speak. So he can be very candid, very open and upfront with us in terms of what our needs are,” said Bell.
“With his experience working in similar sized districts, I fully anticipate picking his brain, getting those recommendations to make us more robust in terms of [the finance] office, so that we can segregate the duties, so to speak, to ensure that no one or two people are doing all of the jobs upstairs that need to be done.”
Alexander fills a void left by the resignation of former CFO Michael Curry, who left the position at the end of August after being selected in February and starting in the role on July 1.
Strategic plan firm
In a separate matter, the board deferred a vote on hiring an outside firm to assist with drafting a new strategic plan.
Board members said they wanted more time to review the $23,500 contract with K12 Coalition, a group Bell worked with previously in Syracuse, New York.
Bell said the group initially submitted a quote of $50,000 that he was able to negotiate down to $32,500. If the board approves, the remaining $9,000 would be paid by the Peoria Public Schools Foundation.
“That will enable this company to come in and assist my team and me with not only the formation of the strategic plan, but taking it from beginning through its conclusion,” said Bell. “That involves everyone: students, parents, community members, board members, and the like.”
Bell urged the board not to wait on getting the process of developing a new strategic plan started.
“It’s been put off or prolonged long enough because we're still operating under the old expired strategic plan that we’ve had for five years,” he said.
