Quarterly Newsletters 17/18 Second Quarter Newsletter | Page 17

Mentors Today...

Build Leaders Tomorrow

Martin Romine

A number of years ago, the superintendent of a financially struggling district hired a business manager who had many years of experience in private industry but none in school finance or governmental accounting. Upon hearing that the district had hired someone without a school finance background, an official at NMPED told the superintendent that they had hired the wrong person. He said, “There is just too much to learn.” While it is true that there is much to learn in order to become successful school business officials, there is also a great support system to help us when we need it the most.

At the 2017 NMASBO Winter Conference, Mr. Mark Williams of National Insurance Services made a presentation about the Michigan ASBO school finance official mentorship program, the place where Michigan school business officials can turn for help. During the session, he explained what they were doing to harness the knowledge of the business officials in their state to help those new to the profession.

As your board, we recognize how much there is to learn in this profession in order to be successful and felt that a mentorship program could be a valuable tool to help our members be the best we can be. As part of the development and implementation of a mentorship program, we solicited help from seasoned business managers throughout the state. We wanted people who would be willing to answer questions and share their knowledge with new business officials during their learning process.

Many of you expressed a willingness to help and, as a board, we want to extend our gratitude to you for your willingness to sacrifice valuable time to share your wisdom and knowledge with those who are just beginning in the field of school finance. In October 2017, NMASBO completed its 7th Annual Boot Camp. At the conclusion of the Boot Camp, we offered every attendee the opportunity to have a mentor to whom they could turn for help as needed. The majority of the attendees took NMASBO up on its offer and requested a mentor. Those mentors have been assigned and we again thank all who volunteered to share their knowledge with our newest members.

We know there are other business officials who are new to the profession and did not have the opportunity to attend Boot Camp. If you fall into this category and would like to have a mentor to turn to when you need some additional help, please contact Jessica or Jaryn at the NMASBO office and we will get a mentor assigned to you. As this is a new program, we will continue to develop and refine it so that it meets the needs of our diverse membership.

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