The second public forum regarding the proposed calendar has been moved to 7 p.m. on Oct. 20 at the Albert Lea High School commons.

The move was approved at the school board meeting on Monday. The meeting was originally omitted, but put back on to discuss the results from the first public forum.

Albert Lea Superintendent Mike Funk said Oct. 14 had been filled with activities and the last public forum was also on the night as some school activities. Funk said some parents weren’t happy with the conflict.

Funk said parents also weren’t happy that at the last forum the school board members didn’t interact with the crowd, and the board expressed similar feelings at the meeting. Many board members said they want to talk to the community to create dialogue.

The second public forum will involve people splitting into smaller groups again, but each group will be moderated by an administrator and board members will go from group to group and talk to people face to face.

During the meeting the board members expressed their wish to talk and listen with the community members. Board member Jill Marin said she didn’t like just sitting up front and not being able to talk with the community members.

In the second public forum, the small groups will go to different classrooms, as the board members said that the acoustics in the commons made everything echo and hard to hear.

The possibility of an open-microphone forum was discussed, but the board ultimately decided to stay away from that idea. Lori Volz, director of finance and operations with the district, said that open mic forums usually result in outspoken people dominating the microphone and not allowing others to speak.

Board member Jeshua Erickson said that the open mic idea didn’t mesh with the board’s goal of gathering as much information as possible, explaining that going and talking with smaller groups would allow for more of a conversation.

The board also discussed taking comments and questions on paper at the second forum that would be answered at the third forum, with a mediator reading the questions and the board answering them publicly.

Oct. 20 was also the night of the regular school board meeting. The board moved to change the meeting time to 6 p.m., with the forum to follow.