Some buses in the Lincoln County School District will soon bediverted to longer routes to make sure students are kept away frompotentially-dangerous bridges.

Transportation Director Donald Case updated the board on how toreroute buses around the bridges, which need to have at least halfthe weight limit of a school bus, averaging between 25,500 and27,500 pounds when empty.

“The only thing we can do at this point is reroute the busesaway from the bridges,” said Case.

He determined that a total of nine routes will be affected, withsix in the Enterprise area and three in the West Lincoln area.

The rerouting will add an average of about 30 minutes to eachroute, and an average of 12 miles each day to those nineroutes.

Case estimated that rerouting the school buses around dangerousbridges will cost the district about $12 more a day.

Board members, with the exception of Jerry Coon, who was absent,agreed this was the best way to solve the problem until the end ofthe school year.

“It looks like that’s all we can do about it,” said board memberJohnny L. Hart.

In other matters, school board members reviewed the finalsections of the district’s revised policy manual and decided toapprove the entire manual after a presentation by Gordon Walker,whose company updated the manual.

Walker showed board members how much easier it would be for themto look up policies in the three-inch book, which is indexed andhas a table of contents for each section.

The board was impressed with his work and believes it will helpthem tremendously.

“From what I’ve seen, I think it’s a good manual that will bemuch more workable now,” said Superintendent of Education PerryMiller.

An executive session was also called last night by boardpresident Joanne Holmes to discuss personnel matters.

West Lincoln Principal Monty Wilson, accompanied by his wife,talked to the board for less than five minutes about his letter ofresignation, which is effective at the end of the school year.

According to Wilson, he read a letter to the board about hisexperiences at the school and how much he enjoyed working there.Wilson hoped the board would realize he had worked hard to fit inat the school, while trying to make it the best school in thedistrict.

Wilson was allegedly forced to resign when a few key members ofthe staff at the school were reported to have aired theirgrievances about Wilson to Miller, who was the West Lincolnprincipal for 10 years.

Several West Lincoln parents who support Wilson told the boardin February that some at the school did not like the change inleadership style.

Wilson believes any disagreements could have been solved if thedisgruntled faculty members would have spoken to him first, ratherthan disregarding the chain of command. He hopes the problems canstill be solved.

Board members did not comment on the letter after it was read,and no vote was taken on the matter.

The next scheduled board meeting, which is open to the public,will be held at 5:30 p.m. May 7 at the central office.