School board hopes committee addition will increase efficiency

The Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau school board is reconsidering its committee setup.

Superintendent Michele Butler said the discussion of adding a committee of the whole to the school board was suggested at the reorganization meeting.

A majority of board members would be at committee of the whole meetings, which could allow the board to eliminate its current finance, personnel, policy and building and grounds committees to streamline its processes and hopefully act quicker, board members said at last week’s school board meeting.

“If we need to address policy in a more rapid manner, having a committee of the whole might help us to do that,” board president Larry Moore said.

Board member Deb Lakey agreed, pointing to the district’s current policy on removing books from the library that has taken some community backlash and caused confusion over what is allowed due to a misprint in the policy.

Also in agreement was vice president Mark Kopp, who said the change to a committee of the whole seems like the right move to stay current and move quicker as a group.

“Unfortunately, it takes some sort of happenstance to show us the fact that our current system is inadequate,” Kopp said. “Unfortunately, in this day and age, we need to be able to operate quicker and faster with what we are because the system as it was just took too long.”