By Patrick Tepoorten

The first meeting of the new North Branch school board was anticlimactic in that there were no new members to swear in. However, some changes were made organizationally.

Kim Salo was re-nominated for school board chairperson and approved. Below that position though, changes were made.

The position of vice-chair, filled last year by board member Donna Setter, will now be filled by Jeanne Walz. Walz' former position as board clerk, was handed over to board member Donna Hubbard. Board member Karen Saltis was appointed as board treasurer, taking over from Hubbard.

Following the realignment of the school board hierarchy, a motion to increase board members' salaries from $40 per meeting to $45 per meeting was approved. It was noted that the North Branch school board continues to lag well behind the pay scales of similar districts and increases to compensation have been few and far between.

In other board news:

• The board adopted a calendar for the upcoming year, keeping the second and fourth Thursday schedule currently used. The two meetings per month schedule will be reduced to one meeting per month over the summer.

• Committee appointments remain exactly the same as last year, with the exception of the curriculum council (Salo) and the communications committee (Salo and Walz), both of which are new. Saltis, Setter, and Salo will continue to serve on the superintendent search committee.