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First meeting under new format
In a move designed to make school board actions more transparent, the Granville Board of Education met Monday night with a new style agenda.
Under the new agenda, board members will have to identify any item they might wish to discuss in an executive session at the beginning of the meeting when the agenda is discussed and approved, School Board President John Steves said.
Previously, the board had a standing executive session portion at the end of their regular meetings and frequently did not specify the reason for entering into executive session after the conclusion of regular business.
Under public meeting law, boards are limited to a narrow list of subjects they might enter into executive session for discussion including pending litigation and specific personnel issues.
To help the board decide which subjects are appropriate for the sessions outside of public view, Steves provided each board member with a note card listing those reasons.
The board did not enter into an executive session Monday night.
In other board actions, an increase of 10 cents was approved in the cost of full price paid school lunches and breakfasts; free and reduced meals were unaffected by the move.
Business manager Cathy Somich explained the district is not allowed to supplement the school lunch program through the federally reimbursed free and reduced meals.
As a result the district is being compelled to raise the price of paid meals to keep pace with the reduced reimbursement rate.
Somich said she recommended, given the economic times, to go with small increases to gradually work towards bridging the gap. The alternative should the board decide against any rise in meal prices, is being compelled to bridge the $1 gap all at once, she said.
“I don’t think we want to do that,” Somich said.
The board approved the new lunch and breakfast costs with breakfast at Granville Elementary rising to 85 cents and lunch $1.60; at the high school the cost of breakfast rises to $1.35 and lunch $1.85.
In other cafeteria news, Somich said the fund finished the year at the break-even point. “The cafeteria doing better,” Somich said.
This shows substantial improvement over the previous year when the fund lost $28,000, she said.
The improvement is mostly due to a shift in insurance costs due to a decrease in the number of full time workers and an increase in the number of part time workers who do not receive insurance.
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