Tom Tolen / news@WHMI.com

The Brighton Area Schools Board of Education Monday night voted to hire a new assistant supt. of finance, replacing Michael Engelter, who resigned in June.

Meeting in workshop session, the board voted unanimously to hire David Jones as the district’s new chief financial officer. According to Superintendent Matthew Outlaw, Jones was one of about a dozen applicants who were interviewed and, of that number, five finalists were selected by the executive search firm the district hired to fill the vacancy. The five finalists were screened by a 15-person committee which consisted of several parents, along with administrators, department directors, school board Trustee John Conely and teachers.

Outlaw says that Jones has been the chief financial officer for the past three years in theTaylor School District and prior to that, spent roughly 17 years with health care organizations. Outlaw said it is an advantage to have a CFO will extensive experience outside the educational field.
Board President Roger Myers said, in his words, “It is a very impressive resume, and Mr. Jones has a breadth of experience beyond schools.”

Engelter resigned in mid-June as assistant supt. of finance after months of being subjected to frequent grilling and criticism by a couple of board members. He was quickly hired by the Pinckney Community Schools to be their assistant supt. of finance and operations. He was the second central office administrator to leave in a two month period as former assistant supt. for human resources Chad Scaling resigned to accept a position as executive manager of human resources in the Walled Lake School District. His resignation was included in the HR report given by Supt. Outlaw Monday night.