Tenafly Public Schools Gains Control of USD 1M in Annual Collections

Walking into his new role at Tenafly Public Schools, Stephen Frost uncovered what he described as ‘the Wild West’ of school finance. With no online payment system, over $1M in annual collections was being handled entirely through cash and checks, tracked only in Quicken, and managed without district-wide standards.

By combining a vision for change with the right technology, Stephen turned the district’s fragmented processes into a streamlined, audit-ready system in 6 months.

Operational chaos and audit headaches

Known for its academic excellence across northern New Jersey, Tenafly Public Schools serves over 3,400 students across six schools. But when Stephen Frost joined as the new Business Administrator, he quickly discovered what he called a complete lack of visibility and financial controls around school-level funds.

Scratching beneath the surface, Stephen discovered recurring issues that led to regular audit write-ups:

• Staff were using personal credit cards outside district oversight
• Money collected for specific student activities couldn’t be traced to the right accounts
• Bank accounts weren’t being reconciled regularly or accurately
• All payments were cash or check-based, with no online system and unclear tracking
• Lack of standardization across the district’s 6 schools

“We’re in 2025 — I couldn’t believe we didn’t already have online payments. We’re doing something we should have done 15 years ago.”

– Stephen Frost, Business Administrator at Tenafly Public Schools.

Tenafly was managing more than $1 million in annual school-level collections using Quicken, a personal finance tool that the district had long outgrown. As a result, district administration had zero visibility into day-to-day financial activity and no way to track dollars in real-time. As Stephen succinctly put it, “The district had no handle on anything that was going on.” He knew something had to change.

Strategic implementation with widespread adoption

Stephen had faced similar challenges in other New Jersey school districts and brought those learnings to Tenafly — starting with selecting the right technology partner to bring order to school-level funds.

He implemented KEV Group’s comprehensive school finance platform, weaving its functionality into district operations. Fee management provided visibility into charges, payments and outstanding balances, online payment processing reduced cash handling and ERP-integrated audit trails ensured every dollar was properly tracked. Together, these capabilities gave Tenafly the oversight and control it had been missing.

Implementation approach

Stephen took a systematic approach to ensure fast, district-wide adoption by both staff and parents. His strategy focused on embedding the platform into everyday workflows by moving key student activity fees — such as field trips and spirit wear — online, making the system indispensable rather than optional.

While the vision for change may seem straightforward, implementing it in reality can be challenging, especially when disparate legacy systems and processes – like cash and check-based systems, Quicken, and email for parent communications – have been deeply ingrained for years. However, Stephen overcame this through a five-pronged approach:

• System-wide integration: All school activities were processed through the platform, ensuring consistency and traceability
• Unified process design: Both online and in-person payments flowed through the same system for complete visibility
• Workflow integration: Payments were paired with required forms (like permission slips) to streamline operations
• Proactive parent communication: KEV Group’s parent notification system was used to drive strong early adoption
• Comprehensive team training: Staff received one-on-one support to confidently transition systems

Audit-ready finances and widespread adoption in record time

In less than a year, Tenafly turned fragmented finances into a fully digital, audit-ready system with district-wide results:

• $1M+ processed annually through a controlled, auditable system
• 90% parent adoption achieved in just 6 months (compared to 2+ years at Stephen’s previous district)
• Rapid staff compliance across all 6 schools
• Audit-ready operations with complete visibility, documentation, and controls in place at all times

“The issues you run into with an audit happen when you collect 500 checks and you need to have them all deposited — are you timely depositing? Are you timely recording all of them? The biggest upside of KEV is it does it all for you. I don’t have to do anything for the deposits from online payments to show up. From an audit perspective, it’s done right. My audit becomes very easy. If you’re using the software and you’re limiting those manual deposits, you’ve eliminated 95% of the issues you can have in an audit.”

– Stephen Frost, Business Administrator at Tenafly Public Schools.

Lessons from Tenafly Public Schools

Tenafly’s journey from financial chaos to complete control illustrates the impact of pairing strong leadership with purpose-built school finance technology. By implementing KEV Group’s integrated platform and driving strong adoption, the district achieved in six months what typically takes years: complete visibility and control over school-level finances.

The success has been so significant that, from Stephen’s perspective, it’s an approach the entire education sector should embrace.

“You probably don’t know you need some of these features until you have them. You don’t think the level of efficiency is possible until you actually see it.”

– Stephen Frost, Business Administrator at Tenafly Public Schools.

For districts struggling with school-level financial management, Tenafly’s experience proves that digital transformation is not only possible — but achievable in record time with the right vision for change and technology partner.