The Hempfield Area school board is making slight changes to the way its two monthly meetings operate.

Beginning February, the month’s first meeting will serve as a pre-agenda, non-voting meeting, during which board directors will discuss issues. The month’s second meeting will then act as a voting meeting, during which directors will vote on the issues they previously discussed.

Prior to the change, directors voted during both monthly meetings.

Board president Paul Ward believes this structure will allow directors to think about issues before making “hasty decisions.”

“(A non-voting meeting) does allow for more thoughtful discussion,” Ward said during the board’s Monday night meeting.

Ward also clarified that the public comment portion of all meetings serves as a one-way discussion for community members to voice their opinions without response from board members. While this is how the district intended public comment to operate, the structure had become more lax since the pandemic, Ward said.

If a board member needs to address something that a community member said, they can do so after the meeting, he added.

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