Cinfici Completes a Term on the Reading School Board of Directors

           I recently completed my appointment to a temporary term on the Reading School District Board of School Directors.  The term was to fill a vacancy for nearly seven months until the special election to elect someone to fill the remaining two years of the four-year term.

            I had posted about my assistance of the Board on the budget in my post in June of this year, Cinfici Helps Balance the Reading School District Budget to Avert a State Takeover, http://williamcinfici.blogspot.com/2013/06/cinfici-helps-balance-reading-school.html.  It afterward became necessary to correct the budget because of incorrect information the School District Administration gave the Board and then to add additional unexpected revenues from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which had approved its budget two days after the District.  Much of the remainder of my focus as a School Director was spent on trying to keep the District’s budget balanced, in terms of obtaining accurate information from the Administration as to the District’s finances, as well as finding increased revenues or spending reductions.

            Meanwhile, the other significant accomplishments of my service included initiating the use of metal detectors for Board meetings and helping to get them installed at the intermediate high school, leading the update of the facilities use rental policy and fee schedule, spearheading the hiring of a public relations firm to manage the District website, and shepherding through a major energy savings program that is expected to save several million dollars.  The energy project, which will improve comfort and be a better example to students and the community, will coincide with a more than $40 million deferred maintenance plan the Board initiated for 15 of the District’s schools.

           Thanks in part to my efforts, various other initiatives were advanced to improve the District's finances, facilities and board governance, as well as to give the new Board of School Directors the information it needs to make good decisions in regard to these ideas.