Another budget forum coming

Published 11:20 pm Friday, March 12, 2010

Thursday evening’s School Board meeting was back to the usual.

Without any new numbers from the General Assembly in Richmond to report, budget discussions are at a standstill, which allowed time for some other decisions to be made.

“I have nothing official to report yet,” Superintendent Milton Liverman said. “Discussions are still active, and there has been no further movement by the General Assembly.”

Email newsletter signup

While it may be at a standstill, the budget was still looming in the minds of members, who voted to hold a second public input session March 16 at 7 p.m. at King’s Fork High School.

While some board members voiced that after listening to five and a half hours of public comment they were not sure if there is much left to be said, Liverman said the board received several good recommendations from the first meeting and that e-mails from those unable to speak last week were still coming in.

He did note that the majority of speakers were school employees, and recommended giving “parents and other concerned community members” an opportunity to speak, as well.

Board member Thelma Hinton proposed having the next session at Nansemond River High School, but because King’s Fork is the largest auditorium in the school, it was decided to hold the session at King’s Fork again.

Also at the meeting, the board took the time to honor King’s Fork High School’s honor students and approved an Internet contract that would give the system more bandwidth and save $1,200 a month.