Members of the Harlan Independent School Board began discussions Thursday about concerns of extracurricular activities taking place on holidays.

Board member Parker Boggs said school facilities should not be opened and school personnel should not be expected to work on such family-oriented holidays as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day and Labor Day.

“It's our responsibility as a board to make family life as education-friendly as possible,” Boggs said.

According to Boggs, the community offers plenty of holiday activities for families to enjoy, but they could not be well-attended if the school district took hundreds of children away for activities of its own. And if the students fail to show up for the extracurricular activities, he added, they are penalized.

“I think what you're saying, Parker, is that family time is so precious. We don't have that much of it anymore,” said board member Becky Goss.

Boggs questioned coaches scheduling games and practice times on holidays. He said he knew of activities already planned for Memorial Day. Boggs didn't want to specify what the activities were in an open meeting, but some members of the audience spoke up by saying tennis and basketball camps were planned for that day.

Board chairman Joe Meadors agreed the issue needed to be addressed but said some sporting events are scheduled around the holidays, like Labor Day.

Meadors asked if the board had attempted to relay to the coaches how strongly it feels about scheduling events on holidays.

“If we feel strongly about it, let's pass a policy,” Boggs replied.

Goss recommended that board members “think about it,” gain input from coaches and place further discussion of the matter on next month's agenda.

“I hope we've got coaches that see the board is uncomfortable with some of the things that's going on,” Meadors said.

In other action, the board:

-- approved salary schedule for 2006-07;

-- approved paycheck schedule for 2006-07;

-- approved staffing plan for 2006-07;

-- approved tentative budget for 2006-07;

-- received an update of the humanities building project and approved a call for bids:

-- approved a summer grounds maintenance, summer feeding program and summer technology assistant positions;

-- approved tuition payment schedule;

-- appointed C.D. Morton to serve on the Certified Evaluation Appeal Committee;

-- held an executive session to discuss pending litigation.