Kathy Westfall, 15-year chief financial officer at Adrian Public Schools, honored

ADRIAN — It was a bit of a surprise, Kathy Westfall admitted, for all of the pomp and circumstance associated with her final,official board of education meeting at Adrian Public Schools last week.

The district’s chief financial officer and assistant superintendent for 15 years is in the midst of a retirement period from the school district and will be taking on CFO duties for the Adrian Steel Co. in April. Because of the spring break holiday the final week of March, the Adrian Board of Education’s next scheduled meeting is not until April 10. Westfall’s official first date with Adrian Steel on a full-time basis is April 3. She has been working with the company part-time for a couple of months.

The board and Superintendent Nate Parker recognized Westfall during the board’s March 13 meeting. A resolution praised Westfall for her 15 years of service to the district.

“I didn’t know about the board’s resolution. That was a surprise,” she said at the conclusion of the meeting. “I had planned to share some words at the end of the meeting.”

After Parker read through the resolution, Westfall shared some of those words about her time with Adrian Public Schools, which was met with a standing ovation.

The Adrian school district has been home to her for a long time, she said, and it carries a lot of history and a lot of good memories.

“I have nothing but good things to say about the district, my bosses, my co-workers. It’s been great. I wouldn’t have left if the other opportunity across town hadn’t come up for me,” she said.

As a student, Westfall attended Springbrook Middle School and Adrian High School from 1978-82. One of her proudest and fondest memories, she shared, was being a part of the record-setting mile relay team and state team as a freshman in the spring of 1981.

Her father graduated from Adrian High School June 8, 1961, and her husband graduated from Adrian in 1981. Her three children, oldest son, Anthony, Class of 2005; son, Sam, Class of 2006; and daughter Mariana, Class of 2017, also are Adrian alumni.

“Adrian Public Schools holds fond memories for my family, long before I started working here,” she said.

Her career with Adrian began in June 2008. It marked the beginning of a career she never anticipated, she said.

“It started with a bang, with an internal theft audit, privatization and a fund balance of $264,681,” she said. “For the next several years, we worked toward a better fiscal standing as our No. 1 priority from the finance side, climbing to over $8 million by the close of the 2021-22 school year.”

The work to improve the district’s finances, she said, included a number of people, including superintendents Del Cochran, Chris Timmis, Bob Behnke and now Parker.

“When I interviewed for this position (superintendent), one of the biggest reasons I applied was because of Kathy,” Parker said. “...There are people with logic and there are people with humanity, and then there is those few people who have logic and humanity, and Kathy is definitely one of those. Her accounting chops are unrivaled, but also is her ability to be a good human.”

Because of Adrian’s improved financial standing, the district has not needed to borrow any money from the state within the past five years. That’s a point of pride for many of the board members, including vice president Jon Baucher, who said the district hired Westfall because she is an exact numbers person.

“You are the same person today,” he said. “Your approach is the same in good times and bad times. You are just steady. You’re a rock and you can be counted on. And it’s been a pleasure working with you.”

Trustee Michael Ballard said Westfall worked tirelessly to advance the district and to always keep its best interests in mind. Her focus, he added, was how to make sure funds got into the classrooms so that teachers and students could benefit the most.

“This is the way it’s supposed to be,” he said. “Everyone of us is here because of the kids. It’s obvious and never more true than what happened in the finance department under Kathy.”

Westfall closed her words of appreciation by saying she has attended more than 300 school board meetings over the past 15 years.

Her successor, Dan Pena, was in attendance at Monday’s meeting. Pena was approved by the board as CFO at its Dec. 13 meeting. He officially began crunching the district’s numbers March 6.

“He’ll do great,” Westfall said of Pena. “There’s just a learning curve. School finance is way different than anything else in the accounting world.”

Pena grew up in Adrian but did not attend Adrian schools. His dad coached baseball and football for a number of years for the Maples. Pena and his wife Amber, who is a long-term substitute at Alexander Elementary School, have three young children, all at Alexander.

“The opportunity of coming to Adrian was so cool, and I’m very excited,” he said. “I have big shoes to fill with Kathy stepping away, but we are very invested in the district, my wife and I. Nate’s put a great team together. I’m really excited about where Adrian is going as a parent, but now, to serve the district as an employee, it's pretty cool.”

There was a bit of business for Westfall to conduct Monday. She presented her final general fund budget amendments to the board during the meeting.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian Public Schools recognizes retiring CFO Kathy Westfall