Quaker Valley School District officials have named a Penn State University graduate as the school's next assistant finance director.
School trustees voted 8-0 April 24 to have South Hills' Jim Giovannitti serve under recently promoted Brooke Baker.
Mr. Baker was appointed as District Director of Finance and Operations, effective May 1, replacing Mr. Scott Antolin.
Mr. Antolin will retire at the end of June after eight years of service to Quaker Valley.
District officials welcomed Mr. Giovannitti at a meeting in April and thanked Mr. Antolin for his efforts.
“I am grateful and excited for the opportunity to join this great district and work with a team of people who are dedicated to making this success a reality,” Giovannitti said.
Mr. Giovanitti, 40, graduated from Baldwin High School in 2002 and earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Penn State University in 2012.
He served on the accounting staff at Pennsylvania Transformer Technology in Canonsburg from 2012 to 2019. He left there to take a job in accounting with the Duquesne City School District, where he currently serves as financial manager.
“Conceptually, school operations are pretty consistent from district to district,” Giovannitti said. “The “what'' we do is the same, but the “how'' is different. The Quaker Valley School District's tax base is clearly much stronger than the Duquesne School District. The “what” reflects taxes. “Method” is tax basis. Each community is different in terms of revenue, expenditures, and funding. ”
Quaker Valley Assistant Superintendent Andrew Surloff said it was Giovannitti's extensive knowledge of the school and math skills that helped him stand out from about 10 other candidates.
“He was very good at explaining his background in school administration and school finance,” Surloff said.
“One of the things we do in the hiring process is look at and have different data points etc. analyzed. He was very thorough. Coupled with the recommendations we received on his behalf, has become our preferred candidate.”
Baker said he looks forward to working with Giovannitti and welcoming him to the team.
His start date at Quaker Valley is scheduled for May 13, and his starting salary is listed at $78,500.
Antolin will be on hand for the next two months to assist with the transition.
Several former board members attended the meeting and praised the outgoing administrators, including last year's Finance Committee Chairman Jeff Watters.
They called Anton Rhine not only a team player and friend, but also a man of strong character and ability.
School principal and board treasurer Jeff Burns spoke of early conversations with Antolin that led to what was likely to be a documentary on the public education funding model.
“Your depth of knowledge and your generosity in sharing it has greatly benefited all stakeholders in this district, and we are deeply grateful for it,” Burns said.
Michael DiVittorio is a TribLive reporter covering general news in Western Pennsylvania with an interest in festivals and food. Contact him at mdivittorio@triblive.com.
