07 Oct Good News at October 6 School Board Meeting:
The School Board regular meeting of October 6, 2024 included some good news on the well project, stretching the dollar on school buses, and a significant increase in financial transparency.
Dr. Pica is acting in a volunteer capacity for the county as the Financial Facilitator. She gave a robust financial update and in the interest of transparency provided nine documents to the board. She also shared good news – the county has hired several key finance positions, including a permanent full time Director of Finance. You will remember that this position is tasked with financial management of not just the schools, but the county finances as well. All the financial reports provided by Dr. Pica are available on BoardDocs under the October 6, 2025 meeting entry here: https://go.boarddocs.com/va/nucps/Board.nsf/Public
A recording of the full meeting will be available at: https://www.youtube.com/@northumberlandschools
Since it is so informative, we are also providing a direct link to Dr. Pica’s Executive Summary:
Dr. Leslie announced that she was able to purchase two used school buses at a lower than anticipated price, creating enough savings to also purchase a new engine for an existing bus. This essentially equals three buses for our students at the price of two.
The good news kept coming with an announcement that the well project deadline has been extended while the target date for completion is still March 2026. Mr. Hardcastle has successfully moved this project from ‘0’ to 60 miles an hour in a very short period of time – thank you Mr. Hardcastle, for your dedication in seeing this project through.
Dr. Leslie, the new Finance Director and Dr. Pica’s leadership through this difficult adjustment period will reap benefits in the future.
Once old projects are completed and as strict and consistent adherence to financial policies and procedures become the norm, Dr. Leslie, her staff, the teachers and school employees can concentrate on the ‘main event’ – Providing an excellent education to the children of Northumberland County. And this is the best news of all.