Othello School Board asks staff to draft new meeting calendar to ease conflict with city council
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
Board members discussed changing meeting days and times to improve coordination with the city council and increase staff and parent participation; directors favored a mixed model (one evening and one midday meeting) and directed staff to produce a draft calendar for March review.
The Othello School District board on Thursday asked district staff to draft a revised meeting calendar intended to reduce conflicts with city council meetings and broaden participation from staff, parents and community partners.
Superintendent Dr. Perez presented three options to the board — alternate weeknights, a mixed model with one evening and one midday meeting, or keeping Mondays but moving start times earlier — and framed the choices as trade-offs between staff availability and parent and student participation. "The mixed meeting model would be to keep one on Mondays and then add a midday one," Dr. Perez said, explaining the goal was to allow representation at city council meetings without losing consistent evening access for families.
The discussion focused on practical impacts: student representatives and working parents raised concerns about noon meetings during the school year, while board members said midday meetings may make it easier for teachers and district staff to attend. "I would be in favor of the mixed time meeting model," Director Gerber said, and several other directors expressed similar preferences.
Board members asked staff to develop a draft calendar to start in April and present it at the first March board meeting; a decision is expected at the second March meeting. Dr. Perez told the board the two March meetings will remain at 7 p.m., and staff will return with the sample calendar for review.
Next steps: staff will prepare a draft calendar reflecting the feedback and return it to the board in March for further review and a potential vote.