A variety of business was conducted at the last regularly scheduled meeting of the Nye County School Board of Trustees, with much of it focusing on gearing up for the start of the new school year, only a few weeks away.

The board approved a list of six main goals for the 2007-08 school year district after a three-day "Hoo-rah" conference which all the county administrators and staff attended.

The goals are to increase the county's graduation rate, work on increasing the security and safety of the schools and students by focusing on gang activity and bus security, continue vertical curriculum alignment, reduce the county's drop-out rate, and find a way to build time into teacher's schedules for professional learning communities, the networks of teachers, principals, and parents that work together to help students succeed.

Assistant Superintendent Rod Pekarek announced that the district's vacancies have been reduced from 50 to 15 since May, meaning that various positions have been successfully filled throughout the district.

Round Mountain will gain another new "teacherage," adding to the two modulars that have already been purchased to accommodate the desperate need for housing in the rural area. The third teacherage, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, double-wide modular, will be purchased by piggybacking off the teacherages that have already been bought and be funded by $40,000 out of the Bond Fund.

The board accepted a bid by Round Mountain Gold to purchase two extra modular classrooms in Round Mountain for $12,000 each.

The district found itself in possession of two extra modulars after replacing four free-standing classroom buildings with two new modulars, each with two classrooms in it.

The remaining two old modulars are being kept for storage.

Students at Manse Elementary School will find the neighboring Wal-Mart less accessible now that the board approved building an eight-foot-high, 510-foot chain link fence with slats around the property.

The wall is meant to act as a sight and sound barrier to keep the students separate from the ongoing traffic and business throughout the day.

Although a cinder block wall was also discussed, it was ultimately decided that would be a target for graffiti and have constant maintenance issues associated with it.

Superintendent Rob Roberts announced that over half of the district teachers and administrators had been trained in using the new ConnectEd phone system.

The system allows every parent of district students, even if the student's parent does not live in Nevada, to be contacted with a personal message within 20 minutes.

According to Ray Ritchie, chief financial and administrative officer for the district, district-wide or regional announcements (such as an early end to the school day or late start, or in the case of the rural schools snow days) used to take up to two hours.

The new system also has the advantage of being cheaper, costing approximately $20,000 for the entire district.

The old phone system cost the same amount for the Pahrump area alone.

John "Doc" McNeely, the recently appointed Area II trustee, was appointed to be the district's Parks and Recreation Committee.