Learning how to work better together better was one of five areas the Northport Board of Education focused on Thursday, June 28, during a work session.

The board, including incoming new members Bonnie Shiner, Denise Sica and Jeff Dwyer, met to work with “facilitator” John Jeffrey of the Michigan Leadership Institute. Jeffrey’s program described the five traits of highly effective teams.

“I think it was a good start and very productive,” said Superintendent Ty Wessell Friday.

Shiner, Sica and Dwyer won’t officially be sworn in as board members until Monday, July 9.

Wessell said current members Patty DeYoung, Vicki Cook and Bob Zwemer decided not to attend so the incoming members could participate in the “team building” exercise.

Jeffrey’s five traits for effective school boards are united in service to children; board and superintendent have interdependent relationship; guidelines for how they work together have been established; relationships based upon trust, loyalty and respect; and the team builds civic capacity in support of children and school.

Wessell said the fifth trait is most important since it relates directly to how community members see the school.

“This is a community school, the community supports it and how we communicate with the community is very important,” he said. “We all agreed there are areas we need to work on.

It was a good workshop with the agreement that we need to continue our work in future workshops.”

In other business, the board had planned to meet on Thursday, July 19, to avoid conflicts with the Fourth of July or summer holiday plans. At the June 14 meeting, however, member Alan Woods pointed out that the board’s policy book requires the organizational meeting for the new school year, which began Sunday, be held on the first Monday or within the first 10 days of the new school year. The board rescheduled the July 19 meeting to Monday, July 9. It will hold the organizational meeting first, then shift into its regular meeting.

Wessell said part of the regular meeting will be an update on the negotiations he and business manager Karen Hammersley have undertaken to reduce the district’s overall cost to be connected to the new Northport sewer system. The district is being charged $239,000 and will be assessed 20.25 residential equivalent units, which will result in a monthly charge of $750.

Hammersley and Wessell will update the board on the process and believes something can be worked out.