COUNTY — The School District of Pickens County received the best opinion possible on its 2013-14 financial audit, unveiled at Monday night’s school board meeting.
The county received an “unmodified opinion” from the auditing firm of Greene, Finney and Horton, CPAs, the best opinion a school district can receive on its audit.
“Receiving an unmodified opinion from the auditors requires a team effort from our excellent financial staff at the district office,” SDPC superintendent Dr. Danny Merck said. “I’m very grateful for the work they do to benefit our schools and the taxpayers of our county.”
Greene, Finney and Horton partner Larry Finney lauded the district for its management.
“The School District of Pickens County continues its legacy of good audit results and has kept itself in good financial condition,” Finney said. “That would not happen without good financial management.”

District names new operations director

In other news, the school board approved Marion Thomas the district’s new director of operations at Monday night’s meeting.
Thomas was promoted into the position after serving as the district’s coordinator of energy management and controls.
Thomas has worked in the district’s operations department for 14 years. He first came to work for the district in 1999 as coordinator of HVAC. After taking another job in 2001, he returned to the district in 2002 in the same role.
In 2012, he was named coordinator of energy management and controls. Last year, Thomas was the driving force behind saving the district more than $400,000 in energy costs.
“With Marion’s knowledge of our district and the operations department, we feel very confident that he can help us achieve our goal of being one of the top districts in the state,” assistant superintendent of administration Dr. Bill Roach said.
“My goal for our department is to support the education of our students efficiently and at a high level,” Thomas said. “I plan to build on our successes, learn from our mistakes and make our facilities as safe and efficient as possible. It will be a team effort, but we have a winning team.”