A sick leave pool for use by Fairfield Independent School District employees dealing with catastrophic illnesses or injuries, received a few tweaks last week by the school board and may be approved at a meeting next week.

Work on the benefit has been ongoing for the past couple of months.

As it stands a fulltime employee can draw up to 10 days from the pool after exhausting sick leave already available.

The time is available for an employee to recover from a catastrophic illness or injury, or care for an immediate family member.

Definition of a fulltime employee is what is followed by Texas Education Agency and includes employees who may not work fulltime but receive benefits, such as hospitalization insurance.

Immediate family includes the employee, spouse and children or minors of which they are legal guardians.

The board discussed offering as many as 45 pool days to qualified applicants, but decided to start with 10 days and increase that number if necessary.

Days in the pool are voluntarily donated by FISD employees.

The sick leave pool policy is to be reviewed by trustees Aug. 26 prior to passage.

In another personnel matter, trustees looked over the protocol for hiring staff and decided to loosen the reins, giving principals more discretion in hiring decisions.

The hiring policy has been fairly stringent the past year, relying heavily on committees and administrative staff to determine candidates to present to the board.

FISD trustees feel that principals have the professional expertise to recommend finalists for hiring after interviews and recommendations by campus committees.

Trustee Eric Chavers points out that the school board’s responsibility is to approve candidates recommended by principals.

Two persons, James Tyus of Fairfield and Lisa Crenshaw of the Butler area, spoke during a public comment period at the meeting.

Tyus pointed out that when his family sold the district a portion of land at the intermediate school site, they gave back $108,000 of the purchase price in exchange for construction of a baseball field on the campus.

He felt that agreement has been overlooked and wanted to remind trustees of the gift.

The field is to be named for Tyus’ parents, Haynie and Kerry Tyus.

Mrs. Crenshaw asked the board to consider selling six acres the district owns that adjoins her property on FM 296.

The board voted to start the process for selling the property which requires that bids be sought.

After revisions, trustees voted to approve district goals for students, teachers, administration, working with the community and financial stability, along with objectives to reach those goals.

The overall goals are:

—Set and meet high expectations for academic development for all students in order to prepare them for a diverse and productive adult life.

—Attract and retain welltrained, highly motivated teachers who are empowered to focus on high performance and are dedicated to engaging students’ passion for learning in the 21st Century.

—Sustain safe and supportive schools that accept the diverse school environment that invites active participation of administration, faculty, students and parents to enhance academic excellence.

—Promote collaborative relationships with faculty, students, parents, community and alumni to make the educational decisions necessary to ensure every student’s success.

—Provide to the shareholders of Fairfield ISD a financially safe and secure business operation that is a good steward of local taxpayer dollars, state funding, federal entitlements and grant appropriations.

The board approved a new contract with Wayne Bonner of WB Computer at a cost of $3,000 per month. Bonner works two days a week with the technology department and is on 24- hour call.