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Why do you think they did a "co" interim superintendency? Sharon is not really qualified for this. She has no background in education. I'm sure she's qualified for the financial aspects of the job but really, why did they feel the need to name her a "co"?

Becoats at least has experience with being an Assistant Super. I'm concerned about how he came to be in Guilford County in the first place, though. It doesn't sound like he was doing a bang-up job in Charlotte.

So we have basically a "fired" person and a financial planner that has always worked for GC--no other experience other than a "xerox operator"--good grief what is that? Did she work the copy machine?

What a sad state of affairs. I know this is only temporary but if this is all that we can muster up to temporarily run our train wreck than we are only reaping what we sow.

I fear that the same lack of thought will go into hiring the permanent person.

I have 2 sets of comments.

Re: Sharon Ozment - She always comes across in the board meetings as being very professional and knowledgeable. I was quite surprised to find that she neither has a degree in accounting nor is she a CPA. I would have thought that the prerequisite for the Chief Financial Officer would be that the person be a CPA.

Re: Becoats - that is one of the least grammatically correct resumes I've ever read. It should be given to high school seniors across the district to correct and should be an example as to how NOT to write a resume.

Becoat informs the reader in his resume that as a Chief of Staff he translates the district�s educational philosophy, goals and objectives into active strategies that will benefit each student and provides leadership and oversight in the development of K-12 curriculum, instructional strategies, and professional development initiatives. If you look at his academic background he has no teaching degree or academic preparation in curriculum. Why is he given the authority to make decisions regarding teaching strategies when he has no formal background in the area? He does have a masters in Financial Planning and an undergraduate degree in Business! Educational Leadership does not train one in curriculum development or teaching. How can he provide authentic oversight and understand how to legitimately impact learning, results related to learning, and have any credibility to reliably offer educators insight or problem-solve dilemmas related to classroom dynamics? How does a finance and business background qualify him for this?

Let's see. Ozment and Becoats are named co-interim superintendents, so they must represent the best and brightest of Guilford County Schools, and then we learn how weak their credentials really are. I think that we are starting to see how much trouble this district really is it.

To Anonymous 2

Sharon has an associate's degree in accounting and a minor in accounting. Most people in charge of finance and budgets in large corporations are not CPAs, i.e. public accountants. Many grow with the company and advance from within. I agree with the anonymous who said she does not have experience in the education field. She is probably there to oversee the financial affairs of the other temporary super.

Keep in mind that luckily both are "temporary".

It seems like Becoats specializes in diversity but what about EDUCATION?

"Most people in charge of finance and budgets in large corporations are not CPAs"

You better go check that again.

I agree with Anonymous 2. I know many in who head up the finance divisions of large companies and they are not CPAs

According to CFO magazine (www.cfo.com)
"Not long ago, the degree of choice for an aspiring CFO was the master of business administration, with 61 percent of finance chiefs holding the degree, according to the Finance Leaders Association. But these days, with financial reporting under the microscope thanks to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, executive recruiters favor another set of letters: CPA."

Look at some of the large companies, Coca-Cola, for example - the CFO is a CPA (Gary P. Fayard).

Obviously GCS isn't as large as Coke, but I believe that CFO's should be CPA's for exactly the same reasons that CFO magazine states.

Many employees can learn the finances and budgets for the particular type of business they are in. That doesn't mean they could quickly move to another company and do the same type job. There are many in charge of budgets, finance, etc. who are not CPAs but the company has CPAs on retainer for tax time.

After reading Ms. Oz's credentials and her length of years experience in the field, and watching how she dazzles the school board with her numbers, it seems she is quite competent and capable.

fyi, Andrew Carnegie didn't graduate from college but he sure knew his stuff.

Give me decades of service, proven hands on experience, clean audit reports and high personal integrity over CPA any day.
Garth Hebert, CPA

I couldn't agree more, Garth.

Here we go again..while we do need to be concerned about those providing oversight of money and their credibility, we are reticent to comment on credibility of those providing oversight of instruction....
Garth, Please let us know how Becoat's background has prepared him to provide insight into teaching dilemmas within classrooms and solutions to drive results. If we cannot address the substantive requirments of those in instructional leadership positions where does that leave us?