By ALICE ORTIZ

Staff Writer

AMORY - At the March 3 Monroe County School Board meeting, Chad O'Brian was named as the Smithville High School principal. He has previously served as assistant principal at SHS and is boys basketball coach and assistant baseball coach. He replaces Sam Wilson, who is retiring.

The board discussed the 10-point grading scale for the country schools.

Superintendent of Education Scott Cantrell told the board the 10-point grading scale will make the county's students more competitive for scholarships. He said he would talk to the principals of the county schools and they would take the information back to their faculty for feedback.

There are currently 42 schools in the state of Mississippi with some form of the 10-point grading scale.

Other business at the school board meeting included the following:

n Resignations were accepted from Amy Lofton of Hatley, Susan Owen of Smithville, and Kevin Cope of Hamilton. Herbert Carlisle, bus driver at Hatley, also resigned.

n Bernece Smith and Adam Hunt were recommended as substitute teachers for the school district.

n The board approved the school food service department's request to receive bids on a freezer at the Hatley cafeteria.

n Jim Lacy and Wes Baird of the Mississippi Forestry Commission talked to the board about the forestry's management plan for 2009-2018 on 16th Section Land.

n Board president Linda Bickerstaff said Dr. Waldrop of the Mississippi School Board Association stressed the importance of adopting a code of ethics for the school board. She said she would like to see the Monroe County School Board do that. The date of March 28 was set for a workshop on the code of ethics.

The board discussed moving the May board meeting from May 5 to May 7 because of the county's academic awards night,which will be hosted by Hatley.

The board went into executive session to discuss a student discipline matter. No action was taken.

The next board meeting will be held on April 7 at 5 p.m. at the Monroe County Government Complex.