North Penn School District’s then-Assistant Director of Business Administration Kristin Johnson, speaks about federal COVID pandemic stimulus funding during her final board meeting with the district in Sept. 2022. (Screenshot of NPTV video)
Former assistant finance director back while board fills open spots
A familiar face will help the North Penn School District get through a turbulent few months by rejoining their award-winning business office.
“I recommend approval of Mrs. Kristin Johnson as part-time interim assistant director of business administration, for a term beginning on December 4th, 2024, and ending no later than June 30th,” said Superintendent Todd Bauer at a recent school board meeting.
Johnson worked for the district from November 2018 through August 2022, alongside district CFO Steve Skrocki, and at that time the district said she brought prior experience in a similar job with the Downingtown Area School District plus over a decade of experience in finance posts for several private companies.
During her first stint with the district, Johnson was largely responsible for tracking and presenting publicly on the roughly $19 million in COVID-related emergency grant funding the district received from various state and federal sources to navigate the pandemic. In 2022 Johnson departed and was replaced in that role by Ron Linke, whose departure the district announced in December would be effective at the start of 2025; Skrocki has also announced his own plans to retire in April after 11 years with the district.
“Kristin is a name that probably sounds familiar to most folks. She was our assistant business administrator, and she is helping us part-time to fill that role in Mr. Linke’s absence,” Bauer said.
No details were provided in the board’s meeting materials packet for the meeting, and the superintendent said a copy of the agreement would be kept on file with the district’s business office. District solicitor Kyle Somers also announced on Jan. 7 that the school board had met in an executive session earlier that night to discuss “a matter of personnel involving an administrative vacancy,” along with legal issues related to a right-to-know request.
Skrocki indirectly referred to the vacancy during the finance committee meeting, with a query to the two new student representatives to the committee: “I do have a question for you: are either of you interested in a career in school business? Or a public finance career?”
Several seconds of silence later, Bauer drew laughs from the board when he answered for the students: “Sometimes no response, is a response,” and Skrocki replied, “Just so you know, there’s such a lack of school business officials, people in my position, that if you had an interest in that, you could write your own ticket after college. Just saying.”
The entire business office also received a shout-out from the CFO, who announced that they’ve recently received a Meritorious Budget Award from the Association of School Business Officers for the district’s 2024-25 budget book.
“It is always the first document I encourage people to read, and look at, if they want to learn more about North Penn School District’s finances,” Skrocki said.
The CFO added that he hopes the district’s financial advisor shares that budget book with rating agency Moody’s as the district seeks to update its bond rating ahead of major borrowings needed for planned renovations to North Penn High School — “You have to mention, ‘award winning,’ you can’t leave that out” — and said according to his research, North Penn is the only district in Montgomery County and one of only 62 districts in the United States and Canada combined to have received that commendation for ten or more years in a row.
North Penn’s school board next meets at 7 p.m. on Jan. 23 at the district Educational Services Center, 401 E. Hancock Street; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.
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