Board changing meeting schedule

The 7 p.m. school board meeting, scheduled twice a month, have caused School Board Member Max Best to miss more than one of his son’s basketball games. The board hopes to soon curb time conflicts like those voiced by Best.

At Tuesday’s school board meeting, members voted unanimously to push the scheduled time for meetings to 5:30 p.m.

The change, they hope, will also boost public attendance of meetings. The tradition of holding a 6:30 a.m. meeting was also eradicated at the meeting.

“This time of year, by law, we have to review our board meeting schedule. If public input shows that they would rather have it (regular school board meeting) at another time, we would consider changing it. But I’m pretty sure there is not any support for the 6:30 a.m. meeting,” Best said.

School Board President Terry Martin said that many of the issues that are discussed at the early morning meeting are retouched upon at the later meeting, rendering the early morning session unnecessary in his opinion.

The Board also laid plans to alter the school site visits. Currently, the board is scheduled to visit a different school each month, with visits starting in August and ending in May. The board discussed ways in which to condense or cut-down on visit volume but voted to table further discussion of the issue for the next school board meeting.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting:

• The District Strategic Plan was approved. The plan was drafted by a group of volunteers pooled from the school district and the community. Many of its members are parents, school board member Lora Harlan said. The plan outlines goals for the school year. The 2005-2006 plan includes the implementation of a dual-language program at the secondary level.

Superintendent Rhonda Seidenwurm said a lot of hard work went into the plan. However, Seidenwurm said she cannot guarantee that the plan will not be altered next year.

• K-12 social studies and 1-12 library science Clovis High School curricula was approved.

• The Adair Fleet contract for the 2005-2006 was approved. The company provides transportation service to schools.