Parents of Picayune kindergartners will have a better understanding of how their children are doing with a new report card adopted by the school board for the Picayune Municipal Separate School District at its meeting last night.

The new report card was designed by kindergarten teachers, board members and South Side Lower Elementary Principal Jouan Lee said, with the specific goal of allowing parents to know how their children were doing in learning their colors, shapes numbers and social development, among other things.

The school board also approved spending up to $10,000 for renovations and software updates at the Picayune Memorial High School Library.

The renovations were requested by librarian Leslie Waller were included in a report Waller compiled following a meeting with board president Ginny Dodd and include repainting the library to make it brighter and friendlier for the students.

Waller said that with the school moving to a seven-period day, she expects more usage by students. She provided copies of articles supporting the need for renovations to make the library a friendlier place for students to sit, study and do research. She said he is seeking donations to help pay for the work and is hoping to get some volunteer help from parents.

Waller also asked for the board to approve software to automate entering student names and schedules and communications with school counselors.

The board approved spending up to $10,000 in district funds for the renovations sought by Waller.

Among the renovations sought by Waller and listed in her report to the board Tuesday night are purchasing furniture such as sofas, chairs and coffee tables for reading nooks, adding wireless capacity so that students can use their own laptop computers, replacing a flat screen television to replace a bulky one, adding a Power Point projector suspended from the ceiling and adding track lighting above shelves and creating a work area for teachers displaced during their conference periods.

The board also approved purchasing new uniforms for the Pride of the Tide dance team and a request from the board of supervisors to provide 50 percent reimbursement for a resource office at Nicholson Elementary School.

In other matters, the board:

— Approved personnel matters.

— Accepted a $7,000 grant from the Miss. Arts Commission for Nicholson Elementary.

— Approved FY 06 reallocation #2 of IDEA funds application for Exceptional Education.

— Approved a Hancock Bank lease purchase closing memorandum for a loan for Fast ForWord.

— Approved change order #2 to the stadium lighting project.

— Tabled the donation of old lights to the Pearl River County School district pending a poll of the coaches of other PMHS sports.

— Approved a $62,600 bid from Ward International Trucks of Mobile, Ala., to air condition seven school buses.

— Raised the mileage rate for bus usage from $1 to $1.25, except for the band, whose rate remains 50 cents a mile.

— Approved borrowing Latin textbooks.

— Approved amendment #1 to the district’s alternative school agreement with the PRC district.

— Approved the first reading to board policy DA-Fiscal Management Goals and Objectives.

— Approved bus turnarounds.

— Went into executive session.

Adjourned.