CCSD financial chief Thorn to resign after less than 3 months
The financial chief of the Clark County School District will resign next week after less than three months on the job, leaving the district searching for an interim leader as it undergoes an exhaustive budgeting process for its massive reorganization.
Chief Financial Officer Nikki Thorn will resign effective Jan. 27, school board trustees learned in an email sent from Chief Operations Officer Rick Neal.
“It was an honor to work on behalf of the wonderful students at the Clark County School District,” she said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I leave with great confidence in my team and their ability to continue to carry out the important work of the Business and Finance Division.”
Thorn is the second finance leader to leave the budget department in six months during a critical transition period for the nation’s fifth-largest school district.
Facing a reorganization that must be rolled out by August, the district is in the midst of crafting individual school budgets.
But the district lacks a number of multimillion dollar resources needed for the reorganization, including a technology system and a weighted student funding formula estimated to cost more than $600 million.
On top of that, contract renewals will surface once again for the district’s unions — adding further strain to the budget.
“The Operational Services Division is working on finding an Interim Chief Financial officer and/or possibly a consultant to assist in the Business and Finance Division,” Neal wrote in the email sent to trustees.
Neal said in a brief interview that Thorn found an opportunity elsewhere and that he wished her the best with it.
The CFO position oversees 121 staff members in accounting, budgeting, payroll and other finance-related offices.
Thorn spent two years in the district before assuming the top finance role in November. She replaced Jim McIntosh, who left after 17 years to become finance director for the city of Henderson.
The position pays a salary of $143,326, according to the district’s online financial records.
Contact Amelia Pak-Harvey at 702-383-4630 or apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ameliapakharvey on Twitter.
