Students in Redmond will join those in Bend and other parts of Central Oregon with an early release on Wednesdays. This is the first year that Redmond schools are doing the early release. The School Board spent time in Tuesday night's meeting discussing "School Improvement Wednesdays." Teachers and other staff members in Redmond will spend that chunk of time improving their skills. Although its sometimes controversial to parents, School Board Chair Jim Erickson says this growth time for teachers is really important: “In the past it was brought up one prior time, and we did get some backlash. But I think that's because we hadn't done enough homework on it, letting everybody know etc. etc. etc. This time it was spearheaded from the part of the class project group and administration. And like I said, at this point it seems to be smooth sailing.” The Redmond School Board also adopted a new teacher and principal evaluation system, and outlined some general boundary recommendations for students going to Ridgeview and Redmond High Schools. Several more public meetings on the high school boundary ideas are coming up soon.