A new football scoreboard and bleachers for the high school gymwere among several subjects discussed at the Tuesday night meetingof the Brookhaven Separate School District Board of Trustees.

The first thing the board did, however, was their annualadministrative changes.

Karen Braden was sworn in as a board member by Board AttorneyRobert Allen. She replaces Amy Valentine.

Gwendolyn Sartin was promoted from vice chairman to chairman,and Dr. Prentiss L. Smith left his post as secretary to assumeSartin’s previous office. Dan Brown was named secretary.

“We’ve always done this in March,” said Superintendent Dr. SamBounds.

Allen was rehired as the board attorney with unanimous approvalwhen Bounds recommended the motion.

Assistant Superintendent James Tillman informed the board thedistrict was ready to advertise for a new football scoreboard andbasketball bleachers. The scoreboard was damaged in December when atornado passed over the high school.

“We’re kind of overdue on both of those,” Bounds said. “The oneswe have have been with us for quite a while.”

“I would just like to suggest that we get a nice one,” Smithsaid. “It will be with us for a while.”

Bounds said officials had looked at many different scoreboardsand decided on one that was 52 feet in length with threeadvertising panels on each side.

“The advertising panels will help offset the cost of the board,”he said.

The board will have all the features of the old one, plus somenew features, he said. One of the new features is that the boardwill be able to display the names of both teams in lights.

The school board approved the motion to advertise for bids.

The board also discussed several 16th section land leases thatare due. In particular, Allen said, he recommended a change to asection with a gravel pit leased by the county.

The lease has expired, he said, and the county did not meet theminimum use requirement in some years. The requirement was added tothe lease as a form of revenue for the district since there is afee for each load taken from the site. By not meeting the minimumrequirement in those years, the county did not meet the district’sminimum of revenue from that site.

He did not suggest barring the county from the gravel pit. Hesuggested the board rebid the section as a non-exclusive gravellease to allow others to use the site as well and charge the goingrate for gravel.

“There have been some inquiries into using that pit,” Allensaid.

The difficulty in locking the pit, he admitted, is that thedistrict would have to lock it and issue a key from the districtoffice each time someone needed gravel.

“It’s the only way I can see of being able to keep a record ofthe loads,” he said.

The board agreed to advertise for bids under a non-exclusivelease.

The board received a complimentary letter from MississippiDepartment of Education’s Pamela Payton-Curry, federal programscoordinator, following her visit to the school Jan. 28-30 tomonitor the district’s federal programs, Bounds said.

“You don’t get these often, so they’re something to remember,”he said.

Payton-Curry commended the district for its strengths whilenoting they had no weaknesses to be addressed. Specifically, shecited exceptional documentation at district and school levels,strong evidence of parental involvement/outreach activities,community and board involvement, a very professional staffdedicated to teaching students, a climate at all schools conduciveto learning, professional development based on needs and detailedin the district-wide plan, among others.

The board also dealt with a problem concerning a parent and aschool bus driver. The parent complained vigorously about thedriver to the driver, Transportation Director Gabe Terrell andAssistant Superintendent Lea Barrett using vulgar language andthreats.

Bounds said the bus was being monitored by a camera and thedriver behaved appropriately.

The driver was transferred to another route to avoid furtherconflict, however, and the district is looking into taking actionagainst the parent.