Future Logan school board meetings to be streamed

Future board meetings of Logan Municipal Schools will be streamed live on the internet and archived online.

The board authorized the livestreaming during its meeting Feb. 10. The first meeting broadcast through the livestream.com portal will be in March 9. A direct link to the streaming site may be found through the school district’s website at loganschool.net.

Superintendent Dennis Roch said in a telephone interview Wednesday that school boards in Clayton and Roswell livestream their meetings and other districts are considering it.

“Stakeholders are interested in following the business of the school and can’t always make it to meetings,” Roch said. “It’s a 21st-century move, and I applaud the board for taking the lead on being willing to livestream their public meetings.”

Roch said the Logan board recently gained several new members after the November election that are interested in constituents “being more aware with what’s going on.”

Logan would be the first school board in Quay County to livestream its meetings. The Tucumcari city commission began livestreaming its meetings on Facebook a few weeks ago, and KTNM radio in Tucumcari has broadcast those meetings live for years.

In other business:

• The board approved its district audit for the 2018-2019 school year from De’Aun Willoughby, a certified public accountant from Clovis.

“The audit actually was very good,” Roch said. “Our auditor commended us for increasing our available cash balance, being good stewards of the resources that we have. I felt the audit was very positive; the board felt that, as well.”

One finding in the audit was a retiring employee with unused vacation time was overcompensated $2,479.21 partly because of a software issue.

“We’re probably going to have to pursue a recovery of the overpayment,” Roch said, adding the state auditor will provide documents to assist in that.

Roch said some of the issues found in the audit might have been from the fact the district hired a new business manager about 18 months ago.

The other findings were a deficit budget in excess of available cash balance in two funds, lack of supporting documentation in journal entries and a non-employee coach who lacked a license from the state Public Education Department.

• The board voted to refinance its outstanding district debt from 2009 and 2011 bond issues because of more favorable interest rates.

Roch said the move would save the district about $70,000. The two bond issues totaled about $2.5 million, with a balance remaining of about $1.3 million.

He said the restructuring is “a big plus for the taxpayers.”

“When we go out to bond next time, we’ll have greater bonding capacity,” he said. “It helps us in the future take care of our facility needs.”

Roch said the bond issues were used for a variety of projects, including preschool construction, new roofs on several buildings and purchasing new computers and hardware.