The Big Oak Flat-Groveland Unified School District office has returned to Groveland after operating from the Don Pedro High School campus for the past year and a half, according to Interim District Superintendent Mike King.

King announced the change at the October 14 school board meeting, which was held at Tenaya School, where the office will now be located.

The district office had temporarily moved to the Don Pedro site because District Superintendent Mari Brabbin, currently on a leave of absence, also served as the Don Pedro principal.

Tioga High School Principal Sandra Bradley is currently acting as the principal for both schools.

The recent board meeting lasted more than five hours and included a lengthy and sometimes contemptuous dialogue between trustee Mike Malloy, King and other board members regarding events that allegedly transpired during a board meeting five months earlier.

Malloy had sought to have certain items added to the official minutes of the May 28 meeting. In a related matter, the board voted 4 to 1 to deny Malloy’s request to have confidential closed session information from that meeting released.

In other board action, King reported that the California High School Performance test scores for 2008/2009 at both Tioga and Don Pedro failed to meet the targets set by the state, but he cautioned against reading too much into test scores for a single year, due to the small sample of students tested.

King presented the board with a spreadsheet detailing incoming inter-district transfers who have been accepted by the district since the board adopted a very restrictive policy regarding transfers. However, he did not indicate the actual number of out-of-area students now allowed to attend district schools.

The board directed King to solicit auditors to conduct a detailed financial and performance audit concerning the disbursement of Measure M bond monies spent to construct a gymnasium at Tioga, a multipurpose facility at Don Pedro, and a modernization of Tenaya School.

The board had earlier rejected the current audit on file performed by Vavrinek, Trine, Day and Company as inadequate. No figures on the cost of the additional audit were given.

King also obtained board approval to advertise for a new Chief Business Officer to replace Tonya Midget, who resigned from that position shortly after the present board took office in May.

The board took an action to add a non-voting student representative to serve on the school board, but did not set a timetable or criteria for the selection of a student rep.

They also approved a request for financial assistance from Helping Hands for certain items that had been requested by the various schools.

Under a revised policy by Helping Hands, all requests for assistance must be channeled through the school board, rather than directly between the organization and the individual school site, as was previously the case.

At one point during the meeting, the board adjourned to a closed session to discuss anticipated litigation against the district, but reported no action taken.

Prior to the start of the regular meeting, Tenaya teacher JoAnn Beaudreau demonstrated the use of Smart Boards, which were installed in Tenaya classrooms as a part of the modernization project.

Finally, at 10:35 pm, Board President Ian Morcott gaveled the meeting adjourned.