This year’s first meeting of Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified School District (SPJUSD) was a learning experience for the newly constituted School Board and the public.

For example, during Superintendent James Berardi’s report to the Board we learned how the District’s ten acre plot of land adjoining the schools in Loyalton contains a well which Cali Griffin recently restored to operation in order to benefit the Ag program she leads. The Board and the public was also informed about efforts being made to eliminate the extremely muddy parking lot in front of the Adult Education facility prior to the Sierra Valley Invitational, the longstanding middle school basketball tournament to be held this Thursday through Sunday.

The Board also acquired news from Megan Meschery, the Loyalton High School’s Principal, about the completion of a very sharp and very economical repainting of the school’s gymnasium. Meschery also spoke about good progress on the Parent and Guardian Survey slated to be completed this week.

But, the Board’s education soared during the New Business section of the meeting’s agenda. Charged with determining the Board’s role with regard to evaluating the Superintendent’s performance in the face of his contract expiring soon, Kelly Champion, the new President of the Board, suggested a new and sustainable metric-based tool needed to be invented and new Board member Annie Tipton's call for a committee to be formed to develop this tool was agreed upon.

Next on the agenda, a discussion regarding the long-standing alternation of monthy Board meetings between Loyalton and Downieville, started with Kelly Champion stating she had received several emails about the question from people who thought her idea of deleting "on alternate months" from the by-laws meant all future meetings would be held in Loyalton in order to maximize the number of people who could attend the Board's meetings. In fact she said she was "not aware there is a divide between different sides of the county" and "I had no intention to have all meetings in Loyalton." So, the idea of changing the by-laws was dropped.

The final item on the agenda, Board Policies, concerned adoption or rejection of ten potential policies provided by the State for review (Transportation Fees, Campus Security, Governing Board Conduct, etc.). Seeing the need for reviewing these policies before acting upon them, the Board decided to postpone action to their next meeting.