The Lincoln County School Board voted Monday to cut their public meetings to just one a month and to eliminate the public comment portion of the meetings.

Superintendent Mickey Myers said meeting once a month will be more efficient. Myers made the recommendation based on what he learned through his participation in the Superintendents Academy.

“It’s a full year of training and great experience exposure to a lot of strategies to be more effective in a leadership position,” Myers said. “I developed a good network with many superintendents across the state.”

Myers said there were 28 superintendents in the academy and Lincoln County was one of only two represented that still held two meetings each month. Harrison County was the other.

Moving to one board meeting per month will help take the workload off the board secretary, Regina East, he said.

“She is constantly preparing for the next meeting,” Myers said. “The volume of issues handled at one board meeting per month will be more lengthy, obviously, but we can get it all done in one meeting and be more efficient.”

The board this week also approved the elimination of the public comment period at board meetings. According to Myers, most districts no longer allow impromptu public comments at board meetings. The public can still request to be on the agenda and can speak, but must be approved before the meeting.

“We need to know 72 hours in advance if you request to be on the agenda,” Myers said. “It has to be for a valid reason. If you have a problem with an employee or a situation at a school, I would prefer you come here and discuss it with me in person. It’s my job and my responsibility to present it to the board as necessary.”

The board also approved plans for a new football field complex at Loyd Star.

“It’s been on the drawing board for many years and it’s time to move forward with that project,” said Myers. “We authorized Ryan Holmes, with Dungan Engineering, to develop blueprints of how the new stadium and field will be designed. We will evaluate the cost and see if we need to scale it back.”

An expected completion date has not been determined.

In other business Monday, the school board:

• Approved the addition of two classrooms at Bogue Chitto.

• Accepted bids for sod for the baseball field at Loyd Star.

• Accepted bids for an irrigation system at the baseball and new football field at Loyd Star.

• Approved a request from Haven Hall Nursing Home to allow the home to use Loyd Star Attendance Center facilities during a natural disaster provided this use does not interfere with the functions of the school.