By Emily Hoffman
    The Wauneta Breeze
    
     Wauneta-Palisade school board members heard a few opinions from the public Monday night about moving the Wauneta Attendence Center grade school to Palisade.
     Mick Majors of rural Wauneta had words of caution for the board. "You're moving too fast on something that will have very long-term results," he said, after asking the board to delay the vote to a later date.
     Majors went on to point out high option-out numbers for those who reside in the former Palisade district, citing the amount of money the district is losing due to opting out.
     Majors stated that if the people in Palisade aren't going to support the Wauneta-Palisade district, they shouldn't have a school located in their town.
     Board President Beth Padilla suggested that if the high school had been located in Palisade, then Wauneta would most likely have had a higher opt-out number than Palisade.
     "Everyone keeps talking Wauneta and Palisade," said Kenny Egle, a parent who attended the meeting. "I hate to see people draw a line. It's the Wauneta-Palisade district."
     Board member Kelly Egle said the focus should be on the students.
     "My first thought every time is what's best for the kids and what's best for the taxpayer," said Kelly Egle.
     One question that had filtered to the ears of some of the school board members before Monday's meeting concerned protocol if down the road the district needed to move the elementary back to Wauneta. How would it be handled, by another public vote, or by a decision of the board?
     Superintendent Charles Isom had been checking into that question with the school's attorney, but had not made connections before the regularly scheduled school board meeting on Monday night.
     Since no one knew the answer to that question, the vote to start the process of moving all K-4 students to Palisade will be delayed until the March 14 meeting.
    
    Fans for the Wauneta gym
     The board has been discussing installing fans in the Wauneta gym for over a year. Previously, Isom took bids from two electricians to install six fans in the gym.
     Isom informed the board that the Bronco Boosters want help toward the expense of installing the fans, making it their project for the year and giving $1,000 toward cooling the gym.
     It was decided there is only a need for five fans in the gym, three on the home side and two on the visiting side. Isom will have bids resubmitted for five fans instead of six and get back to the board on the final details.
    
    In other business the board:
     • Reviewed school policies in their continuing effort to update the language of the school manual. This is an ongoing project of the school board. No action was taken.
     • Approved the bid of Gaston Lawn Care to be responsible for the grounds of both the Wauneta and Palisade attendance centers. The total amount of lawn care is not available because how much mowing occurs during a season depends on the amount of moisture received. Isom did not have the total amount spent from 2004.
     • Approved spending $2,406 on a membership to the Nebraska Association of School Boards. The board joins NASB every year.
     • Reviewed the Annual Report for Wauneta-Palisade which will be made available to the public at the school this week. The Annual Report reviews testing scores, gives enrollment numbers, cites the number of staff and gives district demographics, and expenditures per pupil in addition to other information about the school district.
     • Reviewed the state aid numbers that came out last week. A story on state aid was published on page 1 of last week's Breeze.
     • Discussed the 2005/2006 school calendar and decided to wait to vote on it until they saw a final copy.
     • Heard Isom discuss upcoming meetings he will attend.
     • Went into closed session concerning the superintendent evaluation and matters of personnel.