The school board voted to hold its regular meetings at the Central Office and directed the administration to schedule a tour of each school once per year before the budget process, no later than Dec. 15. The motion also specified that tours be organized into three groups so no single tour constitutes a quorum.

Board members debated whether to keep meetings at a single consistent location (Union/Central Office) or rotate to schools (high school, middle school, Friendship, Miller). Noah (district staff) recommended keeping meetings at Union/Central Office for consistency and said he would schedule tours before the budget process so board members could “have the credibility with the people in your communities” when discussing facilities. He urged members to make tours a priority.

Several board members and staff raised practical considerations. Karen, the business manager, told the board that Central Office is the one location she could guarantee would be set up reliably and that custodial staffing is limited: “The 1 place I can guarantee that can get set up is in Central Office.” IT staff said a portable, lower-cost live-stream setup would travel to other spaces but cross-training technicians across multiple spaces would be harder than using a single established location.

A motion to rescind the board’s June 5, 2025, decision to hold meetings at Warren Community School (with exceptions for tours and summer central-office meetings) was offered and followed by a motion to adopt Central Office as the regular site and to require annual school tours scheduled in three non-quorum groups. The motions passed with six votes in favor and two opposed; two board members were named in the record as voting no (Leah and Melvin). No abstentions were recorded.

The board also clarified that the tours should be scheduled prior to the budget process and that staff would work on technology improvements to make remote viewing clearer. Board members emphasized the tours are for fact-finding and not a substitute for formal budget or capital decisions, which will return to the board for action when staff present proposals.