SCHOOL FINANCE DIRECTOR KING, RESIGNS ABRUPTLY

Relatively new East Providence Finance Director, Mary King, has abruptly resigned her post to take a similar job in North Kingstown, RI. King has been on the job for two years and has been “right in the middle of everything,” said school board chairman Charles Tsonos. “She will be missed, she was a highly qualified person and her loss will be felt here,” Tsonos added. King has accepted the job of Finance Director for the North Kingstown School District and has been on vacation this week from East Providence. “We just heard about it today from Interim Superintendent Daft. I’m not sure of the actual effective date but I think there will be a transition period,” said Tsonos. Tsonos stated that King’s North Kingstown residency may have made this move by King more attractive. “Well I assume she has been looking (to go) for awhile. They (NK) must have had an application process in hiring her,” added Tsonos.

Tsonos noted that King would not be at the next budget commission meeting (March 29th) and he isn’t sure what reaction budget chairman Michael O’Keefe will have. “I think we will see a push from the commission and others to consolidate this job with the city now. It is certainly something that I would support looking into,” Tsonos said.

“Sometimes Mrs. King had to be the bad guy, but she was very competent and helped our department reduce the percentage of special needs programming. The time has come to get serious about consolidation again and I support that.” Interim Superintendent Edward Daft has also indicated that consolidation talks with the city may take place in the face of the King resignation.

King's two-year North Kingstown contract carries an annual salary of $110,000. NK school officials said that King has a master's degree and is a Chartered Public Accountant, qualifications that exceed Draper's. He added that King currently earns $115,000 per year as director of finance at the East Providence School Department. King's appointment was approved with five committee members voting yes and two, Melvoid Benson and William Mudge, abstaining because they wanted more information. After some discussion, debate had been cut off by a successful vote to call the question (NK Patch).