By Laura Lane
"I'm hoping to bring my experiences to the job at Merrick, especially as a certified public account," said Cedrone. "It's a different slant on how you look at things, which I hope will be beneficial to Merrick."
Cedrone, 31, said he believes people's perceptions of business administrators have changed owing to scandals in the last few years. "I was a CPA during ENRON. It's difficult to get the trust back from people because people paint with a broad brush," said Cedrone. "Since Roslyn, we're under the spotlight now, but my impression is it won't get better for those of us who are honest until time heals the wounds."
The Roslyn scandal led many districts to change their practices by segregating duties to ensure that more than one person handled the finances for the districts. Like Merrick, the South Country School district already had this practice in place. "We've had a segregation of duties for some time now, and I've been the second set of eyes at South Country even before Roslyn," said Cedrone. "I really don't see myself changing things in Merrick right off the bat. I'm going to evaluate things for around six months and then go from there."
Cedrone says he believes that to be successful, he'll need to be open to other people's ideas keeping "the team approach in Merrick" functioning. "A lot of my experience has been in auditing and taxes, which has perfected my skills," said Cedrone. "My philosophy is to spend taxes wisely and as prudently as possible."
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