In the Name of Efficiency, School Board to Adjust Meeting Frequency
By Jacob Mathias
At their first official meeting with new interim Superintendent Lee Bush on Monday night, the Stevens Point School District Board agreed to change their meeting schedule.
At the retreat-style meeting on Monday, the board changed the frequency of its regular schedule from meeting twice monthly to one regular meeting, held every second Monday.
“Then we allow administration and our interim superintendent to have the balance of the month to really focus on the community, schools, communication,” said Board President Meg Erler.
Erler did say that if something urgent comes to the board’s attention, a special meeting can be called if a decision has to be made outside of the regular scheduled meeting.
“It keeps us true to our committee referral to board structure,” said Erler.
Bush said the single meeting would also increase efficiency among administration as they would have to be more aware of the single monthly meeting.
“Again, my past experiences with boards was always one meeting a month,” said Bush.
“If we can make board meetings more efficient and if we can get administration and the cabinet leadership to stick to deadlines, bring forth things in timely manners, look ahead I think we can do it in one board meeting a month,” he said.
Prior to joining the district earlier this month, Bush had served as interim superintendent in school districts around the country including Brookings, Ore., Osseo-Fairchild, Wis., and Cape Coral, Fla.
Board Member Sam Levin was the only dissenting vote on the schedule change.
“I myself would rather see us hold off on this until everybody is present,” said Levin. Board members Kim Shirek and Lisa Totten were not present at the meeting.
Erler said the regular meeting schedule, if it were to be changed, had to happen at Monday’s meeting before official calendars were printed by the district.
The board’s committees will still meet on the first Monday and Tuesday of the month.
The next regular scheduled board meeting is on August 10 at 6:30 PM in the Bliss Education Services building.