In other business, the school board voted unanimously without discussion to postpone implementation of the high school graduation project.

The new state-required research project will now begin with the class of 2011. No community members spoke on the issue Thursday night.

With Thursday's vote current juniors will be exempt from completing the project, while sophomores will still need to fulfill the controversial requirement.

The state mandate requires students to research and write a paper on a topic of their choice, create a project and present it to a panel to graduate.

State education officials gave districts the option of postponing the requirement one year.