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HASTINGS For being the Hastings school board's first-ever meeting of its kind, Monday night's town hall meeting was a rather unremarkable scene at first glance.
The hotel conference room buzzed with quiet discussion from the 60 or so people spread throughout, seated in eight small circles.
Every so often, a clear-voiced statement or burst of laughter pushed through the hum of the crowd.
And that was exactly what the board wanted thoughtful, wide-ranging discussion about the district's pressing issues with a broad cross-section of Hastings residents.
The board scheduled the town hall meeting after a poll revealed that the district's patrons gave officials only so-so marks for its communication with residents.
District officials and residents later said they appreciated the new perspectives that came from the fresh format.
Board member Shayne Raitt said he relished the opportunity to hear people speak about some of the district's most pressing issues.
Raitt said he gets a lot of input from residents, but it often comes in the form of angry e-mails and testy phone calls.
By contrast, he enjoyed the depth and thoughtfulness of Monday's discussion.
"I think it was a very candid way to express their view to board members that they might not otherwise have expressed," Raitt said.
Several points of view clearly came through from group after group. Residents wanted to keep the district's elementary schools oriented by neighborhoods, even if consolidating and organizing them by grade level would save the district money.
They're also concerned about large class sizes, especially in elementary grades, as well as what they saw as an underfunded, ineffective program for high-ability learners.
And they wanted all of the district's schools air-conditioned, too.
Those sentiments were backed up by the survey the district conducted among 304 patrons in December and summarized Monday.
In that poll, Superintendent Craig Kautz said, renovating the high school's decades-old science wing was named a top priority, but the district's tax level was deemed too high.
Kautz said the district planned to hold another similar meeting later this spring, then analyze the feedback at a June retreat. The board is hoping to hold the meetings each quarter if participation remains strong, he said.
And judging from reactions Monday, it would be a welcome mainstay.
Dale Ossowski, who has two students at Hastings High School, called it "nothing but positive" and said he was eager to see how the board uses the public's suggestions.
"(When) you can sit in a smaller group and discuss big problems, sometimes you get better solutions," he said.
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