After about a half-hour talk, the Albert Lea school board tabled the matter of what to do with the board seat vacated by Sally Ehrhardt in the first week of July.

It was decided that the board members will think about options before deciding on a plan at the next board meeting on Aug. 15. The board discussed at length whether to contact previous board members before opening up the selection to include applications from anyone in the community.

“I’d like to poll former board members because they have already been elected,” board member Jill Marin said.

She also said former board members would be preferable because of their experience working on the board and training wouldn’t be needed. Board members Linda Laurie and Jeshua Erickson both stated they’d rather have an application process and if former board members wanted to apply they’d be able to. Board member Mark Ciota agreed and added that former board members who applied would receive preference.

Superintendent Mike Funk encouraged the board to tell anyone they think would be interested to apply, and then the board can judge who would be the best replacement based on education, career or past board experience.

“That cleans up your process considerably,” Funk said.

He also said he’d like to see a timeline for filling the vacated seat.

In other action, the board:

• Heard an update from Albert Lea High School Principal Al Root about a program the high school has been using for three years. Since the 2008-09 school year the high school has had an attendance policy that’s connected to grades and final exams. Root said that in terms of reducing absences and tardiness that the program has been working.

“Final exams are optional for students with three or less unexcused absences,” Root said.

Root said that with eighth-graders joining the high school that he was changing the policy somewhat to keep eighth-grade curriculum similar to what it was at Southwest Middle School with all students taking finals. The policy tying final exams to absences will still be in place for sophomores, juniors and seniors.

Community members at the meeting spoke up to ask what the ramifications were of having students skip final exams.

“That data would be hard to get,” Root said. “Is it a perfect policy? Probably not.”

Root said the policy will stay in place for this year but noted he’s not opposed to changing it based on feedback from parents, students and faculty. Funk recommended he hold a community meeting about the issue at some point during the school year to talk about the possibility of changing the policy for future school years.

• Heard from Funk regarding grant funding of $197,000 to partially pay for five teachers. The district will need to pay around $80,000 in matching funds for the grant, which Funk said he thought it would be hard for the district to afford but said the district was recently awarded compensatory funding that can be used for funding these teachers’ salaries. A teacher will be added to each elementary and to Southwest Middle School for the 2011-12 school year to specifically help students who are struggling to learn.

After about a half-hour talk, the Albert Lea school board tabled the matter of what to do with the board seat vacated by Sally Ehrhardt in the first week of July.

It was decided that the board members will think about options before deciding on a plan at the next board meeting on Aug. 15. The board discussed at length whether to contact previous board members before opening up the selection to include applications from anyone in the community.

“I’d like to poll former board members because they have already been elected,” board member Jill Marin said.

She also said former board members would be preferable because of their experience working on the board and training wouldn’t be needed. Board members Linda Laurie and Jeshua Erickson both stated they’d rather have an application process and if former board members wanted to apply they’d be able to. Board member Mark Ciota agreed and added that former board members who applied would receive preference.

Superintendent Mike Funk encouraged the board to tell anyone they think would be interested to apply, and then the board can judge who would be the best replacement based on education, career or past board experience.

“That cleans up your process considerably,” Funk said.