IRVINE : 6 Picked for Schools’ Fiscal Advisory Panel

Six community members have been named to the Irvine Unified School District’s first Finance Committee, created by the school board to bring expert advice to increasingly difficult financial decisions.

Although the district has created budget advisory committees in the past to serve for limited terms, Trustee Hank Adler pushed for the creation of a long-term committee.

“I want it to be the equivalent of the city Finance Committee,” said Adler, a certified public accountant who was on the city Finance Committee during the mid-1980s and early 1990s. “I expect it to become, over time, the most knowledgeable authority on the finances of the school district.”

The committee will serve in an advisory capacity, reviewing the district’s $100-million budget, investment strategies and insurance programs.

Each of the five school board members appointed a single committee member, to be joined by a representative from the Irvine Teachers Assn. An additional, non-voting member of the committee will represent the district’s administrators and classified employees.

Appointees include business owner John Boslet, husband of school district PTA President Jacquie Boslet; accountant and real estate executive Don Kelley; Wall Street investment expert Sal Morreale; high school English teacher Marlene Poitevent; business attorney Steve Thames; and accountant Jeff Wagner. A representative for the administrators and classified employees has not yet been named.