At their first meeting of the 2024 school year, the Dolores RE-4A Board of Education on Thursday discussed the upcoming superintendent evaluation and the BEST grant.

Casey McClellan and Clay Tallmadge were absent, but the board still had a qwuorum with board members Maegan Crowley, Dustin Lynch and Julia Wilson-Anderson.

The meeting got off to a quick start, as there were no celebration reports or citizen comments, which Superintendent Reece Blincoe said could most likely be attributed to the cold weather.

In board reports, Wilson-Anderson gave the board an update on BOCES, saying that she was still learning the ropes as a BOCES member, but provided some information on the last meeting.

Blincoe updated the board about the BEST grant application process, noting that there is a new grant application system in place. Blincoe said he will begin training on the new system Jan. 16 and meet with the architect in charge of building the school on Jan. 18, should the district receive the BEST grant.

Because of the new grant system, Blincoe said they will have to rewrite the grant, instead of using bits and pieces from the previous grant application.

The deadline for the grant application is Feb. 3.

Crowley requested that Blincoe disclose who is on the calendar committee and asked that the seniors who raised concerns in December about the graduation date be invited to join the committee.

They also discussed asking juniors and rising seniors, to be part of the calendar committee as well.

“We need to let junior and seniors’ voices be heard,” Crowley said.

Board members also discussed the upcoming superintendent evaluation, which is meant to measure Blincoe’s performance, growth and development. The evaluation will have a formative and a summative part.

Goals for the 2024-2025 year, will take place in June, and discussions to revise the current day and time for school board meetings will take place at an upcoming meeting.