Financial audit, proposal for new technical institute before school board Monday

The financial audit and a district proposal for a new Advanced Technical and Innovation Institute to replace Sumter Career and Technology Center headline Sumter school board's meeting on Monday.

Public participation and the district's 45th-Day student enrollment report are also listed on the agenda, which was posted online for the public on Friday by a district staff member.

Maulden and Jenkins Director Brian Nicholson, who serves as the district's auditor, will provide the official fiscal year 2022-23 audit report. The fiscal year concluded June 30, but school districts' budgets are so large that audits are not generally presented until December. As of Oct. 31 financial reporting at the November board meeting, district Chief Financial Officer Shatika Spearman projected revenues exceeding expenditures and a net income of $9.8 million.

District administration's proposal for an Advanced Technical and Innovation Institute to replace Sumter Career and Technology Center would be housed at Chestnut Oaks Middle School, according to a PowerPoint presentation attached to the agenda item. The career and technology center would be repurposed into a district Professional Development Center and Informational Technology Department.

The timing of the topic seems unusual because to date the current nine-member board has had no discussion on the concept, but there has been some discussion this fall by trustees on construction of a new technical high school at the site of Central Carolina Technical College's Advanced Manufacturing Technology Training Center on Broad Street.

Monday's meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the district office, 1345 Wilson Hall Road.

As far as public participation, any member of the public wanting to make a comment to the board on any topic must arrive before the 6 p.m. start time - as early as 5:30 p.m. - and complete a form to speak.

For those not physically attending, the district broadcasts meetings live on YouTube.

Anyone wanting to attend the meeting virtually can do so via YouTube Sumter School District Board Meeting and the district's Facebook page, @SumterSCSchools.