School board names Chatham Grove principal, receives audit report

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PITTSBORO — The first principal in the history of Chatham Grove Elementary School was officially named Monday night, the same night the Chatham County Board of Education received an audit report for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

Dr. Larry Savage, the current principal at Siler City Elementary, will begin his duties as Chatham Grove’s first head administrator on January 6 ahead of the school’s official opening in August 2020. Savage leaves Siler City Elementary after more than five years as principal.

In the announcement on the Chatham County Schools website posted Tuesday morning, district Superintendent Dr. Derrick Jordan said Savage is “well-positioned to help manage the heavy lifting that will come along with ensuring that Chatham Grove Elementary opens as smoothly as possible.” Savage said he was “very excited” about the opportunity.

“I am eager to get started building a school community that leads to outstanding student achievement and growth for each child entering our doors when we begin next fall,” he said. “Having said this, it has been my greatest privilege to serve the students and families of Siler City Elementary, so this is definitely a bittersweet move for me that I sought in order to be closer to my family.”

The board also named Tania Poston, Siler City Elementary’s current assistant principal, as SCE’s new principal when Savage leaves. Poston, the wife of district Executive Director for Elementary and Middle Grades Education Chris Poston, has been in education for 22 years.

“Mrs. Poston is no stranger to Siler City Elementary,” Jordan said. “Her experience and commitment to SCE will serve our school community well.”

Additionally, the board heard a report on the district’s fiscal year 2018-2019 audit from Dale Smith, an auditor with Rockingham-based Anderson Smith & Wike. The firm regularly conducts audits of several school districts, including nearby Lee County.

Smith said his team’s investigation returned a clean audit with both the district’s financial statements and compliance with grant funding requirements.

“We did not notice any improper use of grant funds,” Smith said. “There’s quite a bit of compliance requirements in spending those grant funds, and we didn’t have any issues in our testing.”

Smith added that there were a few minor issues, none of which were “questionable,” he said, but were noted due to “issues in other districts in the past few years that have made us more cautious.” He added that the Chatham Schools district has since put protocols in place to address the issues.

One particular item not referenced directly in the audit report but mentioned by Smith was the district’s use of Fund Balance — more or less a savings account through which governing entities can draw money when needed. The auditor said the Fund Balance in both the General Fund and Child Nutrition allocations had seen decreases. While both funds were in good shape, Smith said, he recommended caution in spending money from those funds in the future and, when it came to Child Nutrition, trying to find a way to decrease expenses or increase revenues.

The audit report did state that the General Fund decrease came from “an increase in instructional services expenditures,” among other factors, and extra Child Nutrition spending was due to an increase in food costs and salaries and benefits.

Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR.

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Savage

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