Ann Cardon has been the superintendent of St. Joseph Public Schools (St. Joseph, Mich.) for the past five years and is proud of the district and its growth, especially at a time when other districts are experiencing declining enrollment.

St. Joseph Public Schools is comprised of five schools - three elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. But despite having over 3,000 students (including over 1,000 students at the high school), the district is still able to capture the “small school” feeling. Ann credits a lot of that to the dedication, training and collaboration of the staff. “We work really well together, collaboratively knowing where all our students are, whether they need extra help, whether they are right at grade level, whether they need additional support and then we work individually with those students to make sure every student is getting what they need and growing.”

It is that same collaborative environment that Ann sees in working with the team at Kruggel Lawton. “What sets Kruggel Lawton apart from some of the other firms is that they’re available all of the time. The audit isn’t an event. We reach out to them constantly, they are always here to offer us support with whatever we need.” Ann continued, “In fact, just last week, our chief financial officer was in contact about a question on how to book something and Alex got right back with her and helped her work through it.”

In addition to their students, St. Joseph Public Schools has other stakeholders in the community to answer to. Kruggel Lawton’s annual audits help offer transparency on the community’s $27 million investment to the district’s budget every year. “We owe that to our taxpayers, to our parents, to everyone to show exactly what revenue we have coming in,” Ann said, “we want to make sure that we’re spending it correctly and we depend on the firm and our auditors to help make sure that they are looking at all the right things and reporting back to our community.” Ann adds that Kruggel Lawton has also made recommendations on internal processes to help improve efficiency and stretch resources. “The more efficient we can be in all aspects of our business, the more we can spend that money where it needs to be which is in the classroom.”

Even though the team from Kruggel Lawton is ready to answer questions any time of the year, Ann’s favorite part of the audit is when the team is on-site, “It’s just kind of fun to have them here.”

St. Joseph Public Schools

3275 Lincoln Avenue
St. Joseph, MI 49085
(269) 926-3100
SJSchools.org