Interim superintendent Stephanie Henderson presented policies for the Brookhaven School District that guide instruction and professional development, and board members received bids of $4,000 for a hunting and fishing lease of 16th Section land during Tuesday’s board of trustees meeting.

“Central office has become ‘the situation room,'” Henderson said, where we meet with teachers and principals and discuss what practices in the classroom are working for our students and which are not.”

Policy for Professional Staff Development and Policy for Instructional Program Management are plans adopted by the school district that Henderson said help keep their teachers’ classroom instruction in line with the accreditation requirements outlined by the Mississippi Department of Education.

Henderson received board approval for the Professional Learning Plan and the Instructional Management System. She said these are basically executive summaries of the two policies and strategies adopted for instruction and staff development.

“We’ve termed the Instructional Management System our executive summary,” Henderson said, “because it lays out objectives in a broad sense, but leaves room for each teacher to set out the procedures for instruction in their classroom.”

Board vice chairman Stan Patrick asked Henderson, “How are we evaluating these plans?”

Henderson told Patrick her office will be evaluating teachers at nine-week intervals to see how effective their instructional policies are in the classroom.

In other business, 16th Section Land Manager Versie Rushing presented three bids for a hunting and fishing lease currently being held by Glen Smith. Smith’s lease will be up Sept. 1.

Smith sent a bid for $2,941, while Jay Culbertson and Charles Davis Jr. each sent a bid of $4,000 for the lease.

Rushing said it is the district’s policy that the current holder of a lease be notified and given a chance to match the highest bid.

Board attorney Robert Allen said the trustees may set a limit on how long to get a matching bid. Board members then agreed that Rushing should notify Smith that he will have until Friday to match the high bids.

In other business, the board approved the heavy equipment class from Copiah-Lincoln Community College having the opportunity to train on backhoes, tractors and other equipment in the cleanup of 16th Section land. Rushing said it benefits the district and the college students.

“A forester will be overlooking this project,” he said. “It will save the district money on contract work and will provide training for these students.”