Saying it will give them an extra day to prepare for meetings, the Fayette County Board of Education has decided to change its meeting days to Tuesdays. Regular meetings will be held on the third Tuesdays of each month, and work sessions and called sessions will be held on the first Tuesdays as needed. Some meetings will be changed due to holidays and other reasons. The new schedule of meetings will be posted on the boardof education Web site, www.fcboe.org.
The change from Monday to Tuesday meetings was not without controversy. Three members of the board, Janet Smola, Lee Wright and Terri Smith, supported the change, while Bob Todd and Marion Key voted against it.
Supporters of the change explained that the board agendas are finalized on Friday afternoon, and if they have questions about any items, the school system staff have only one day-Monday-to get them the answers before the meeting that night. By moving the meetings back a day, the staff will gain that time to find answers.
The public will also benefit by moving the meetings. The agendas are posted to the public on the Web site on Monday mornings. Smola said she relied on feedback from the community to help her with her votes, and many people had mentioned they would like to get the agendas earlier so they would have more time to study them.
“This is going to be a critical year,� Smola said. “The public needs to have time to see it.�
Todd said he felt the major issue was for the staff to submit items earlier, and Key said she thought the deadline for the staff to submit agenda items should be Thursday.
Superintendent John DeCotis commented that many departments didn’t do their closeouts until Fridays, so it would be difficult to have a Thursday deadline.
Smola pointed out that the board members who work full-time jobs wouldn’t have time to review the agendas until the weekend anyhow, even if the deadline was moved to Thursday.
“I’m excited about moving to Tuesdays,� said Smith.
In other beginning of the year organization business, Smith was once again elected chairwoman of the board. The vote was 3-2 with Smith, Smola and Wright voting for her, and Todd and Key voting against.
The same vote tally came up when Lee Wright was re-elected vice-chairman, and the 3-2 vote also was recorded for the re-appointment of Harben, Hartley and Hawkins as legal counsel for the school board. DeCotis said the firm represents more than 100 Georgia school boards. He also pointed out that the firm billed the school system the same amount last year as it did in 1997.
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