Attending conferences and district goals will be discussed at tonight's meeting of the Natrona County School District board of trustees.

In recent weeks, board members stressed the importance of attending conferences and to go together when possible. Three trustees plan to attend the National Schoolboards Association conference April 10-12, 2010, in Chicago. Several trustees said they would like to hear more about the conferences when people return.

The board budgets $13,000 for conference and travel and overspent that amount by $4,306.88 in 2007-08 and $2,689.52 last year. If someone wanted to go to a conference, it was unlikely that if the board was over budget the member wouldn't be able to go, said trustee and former board chairwoman Shannon Jackett. The board underspent in other areas, which evened out the bottom line.

The board will hear from two of the district's five goal committees: safe, healthy people and efficient and effective operations. Efficient and effective operations includes alignment between schools and departments within the district. Lack of efficiency was a complaint in the organizational assessments of the district in September and in 2008.

The board will vote to approve the district's anti-bullying policy. All school districts in the state were required by the Legislature to draft and adopt a policy by Dec. 31, 2009. The policy includes harassment using electronic devices, called cyberbullying, and has jurisdiction in classrooms, on school grounds and on buses.

The policy applies to students, teachers, administrators and others who interact with students and staff members in the schools. The policy can be found in the board packet, available online at natronaschools.org, under the tab labeled "Board."

Midwest staff will give a program update to the board at 6 p.m. The regular session of the board meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. Today's meeting will be held at Midwest School, located at 256 Lewis St. in Midwest.

Reach education reporter Jackie Borchardt at (307) 266-0593 or at jackie.borchardt@trib.com. Read her education blog at tribtown.trib.com/reportcard