A planned five-phase study of the Rapid City School District management may come to an end if school board members aren't happy with what they hear at a Phase II presentation.

School board member Wes Storm said Wednesday the feeling on the board is to not pursue a Technology & Innovation in Education (TIE) study started three years ago. Other board members echoed that sentiment. No decision has been made.

TIE was contracted by the board in 2006 to look at the district's central administration and what changes, if any, should be made after two long-term district employees left.

At the time, the study made sense as part of long-term planning for the district. Results would have offered board members the tools to build a road map to more effective communication between departments and levels of management.

Today, however, continuing with the TIE study doesn't make sense.

The budget issue facing the school district makes continuing the TIE study a bad idea. While in the grand scheme of the school district budget the study is relatively inexpensive, the results of the study wouldn't be reliable. The school district has rallied a financial review committee to look at the district budget and make recommendations. That review committee is slated to have a final report to the school board in December.

Until that time, there's no sense in continuing with a management audit. We would assume school board members will put into play some or all of the recommendations from the financial review committee. If so, the numbers the TIE group is working with at this time would be inaccurate.

Board members should hold off on the TIE study until they are positioned to put the recommendations in play.

At this point, the Phase II presentation has yet to take place but is scheduled to soon. We'd recommend the school board members hear the results of the presentation before making any final decisions on the future of TIE.

Clearly, they should determine if the results of the TIE study would be relevant before the financial review process is completed.