Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — South Routt School Board members will continue to discuss redistricting after failing to make any decisions during an all-day work session Thursday.

"It was a very low-key meeting," Superintendent Kelly Reed said. "Basically, we worked all afternoon discussing the possibilities of director redistricting, trying to get an idea how we want to go about it."

Although no decisions were made, Reed said the School Board is making progress.

"Right now we're at the front end of the entire process," he said.

A school district is required to update the boundaries of its director districts - each School Board member represents a specific district - every four years to ensure the district is represented equitably, he said.

The School Board previously appeared ready to move forward with director redistricting, but its members have wondered whether they should take the issue to South Routt School District voters.

Also Thursday, board members were updated about the status of the new South Routt Early Learning Center, which will be built next to South Routt Elementary School in Yampa.

The project received a push forward in July when the Routt County Board of Commissioners approved a $350,000 grant to help fund the project.

Construction is scheduled to begin on the center as soon as the grant is processed and contracts to build it are finalized, Reed said. The grant application was scheduled to go before the state Department of Local Affairs in late October or early November. When built, the center would include 2,500 square feet of space with two classrooms, staff offices, a family room and several covered porches.

"We'd like it to be built within a year from now, but that's all speculation at this point," Reed said.

In other business, the School Board:

n Reviewed the district's accreditation report. "Everything went very well" when state officials visited the district Nov. 2, Reed said.

n Discussed hiring two new employees and accepted the resignation of high school football coach Andy Reust.

n Looked at a GPS system that is being tested on a school bus. Reed said the equipment was donated to the district and that if the test bus is successful, the district might put the system on all buses. The GPS system allows parents and teachers to use the Internet to locate buses in bad weather or when a bus driver doesn't have cell phone service.

n Heard a presentation about the district's use of the PowerSchool computer program. PowerSchool allows parents to access their student's attendance and assignments online.