It was a satisfactory ending for many of the more than 100 people who attended.

Wednesday’s meeting was intended to help the board winnow down a list of ideas for reconfiguration – particularly at the high school level – to a handful of preferred options.

When Strategy Solutions President Deb Thompson asked the board to start rating options using criteria developed during the meeting to prioritize the options, board members said they were not ready.

“What we’re attempting to do tonight… we want to take this list of 12 or 15 and pare it down to a more manageable number that some real analysis can be put around,” Thompson said. “We’re talking about criteria that we can use to evaluate that longer list to create that shorter list.”

Many of the 100 that attended Wednesday’s session in “Save Our Schools” shirts.

“I don’t know how comfortable I feel taking any of the options off right now,” Board President Paul Mangione said.

“I’m not anywhere near any position to add those criteria to any of those,” Board Member Joe Colosimo said. “I’ve got 1,000 questions on these before I could possibly vote on any criteria.”

“We told the community there weren’t any options and here we have options,” Board Member Jeff Dougherty said. “I’m not in a position to vote.”

“I don’t have enough information to vote on any of these,” Board Member Kevin Lindvay said.

He added that he didn’t know how long it might take to be ready, but “we owe it to everyone sooner than later.”

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton WCSD Superintendent Amy Stewart identifies problem areas from a transportation perspective during Wednesday’s meeting.

The board meets at 6 p.m. Monday.

Superintendent Amy Stewart suggested that the options and criteria be sent to the board members before that meeting.

“Think about what you do want from all of the options to evaluate them with fidelity,” Stewart said.

FOLLOW-UP

The options in front of the board, and the criteria board members have said they will use to evaluate them, will be listed in a follow-up story to run on Saturday.

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton School board member Joe Colosimo speaks during Wednesday’s session. The board was asked to identify the criteria that would be used to evaluate options but declined to evaluate any of the options on the table during the meeting.

Other stories will detail some of major issues that were presented during Wednesday’s meeting.

Over 100 people attended Wednesday’s public engagement session at Central Office regarding potential reconfiguration options.

Debra Thompson, president of Strategy Solutions, works with the board to identify criteria that will be used to evaluate potential reconfiguration options.

Times Observer photos by Josh Cotton Kelly Sullivan addressed the Warren County School District board of directors during Wednesday’s public engagement session at Central Office in Russell regarding the district’s master facilities plan.