MARIETTA - The Cobb school board will not vote Thursday - either before or during its regularly scheduled meeting - to award a contract for the installation of artificial turf at all of the district's high schools, board Chairwoman Lynnda Crowder-Eagle said.

"I just believe that right now we really need to focus on the budget," Crowder-Eagle said.

She said she had been asked by board member David Banks to call a special meeting Thursday to vote on the turf since Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Schuster ruled Friday that the district can legally use special purpose local option sales tax dollars to pay for artificial grass at high schools.

At the SPLOST oversight Facilities and Technology committee meeting on Monday night, Banks told the committee that the board planned to vote on the turf at a special called meeting at 3:45 p.m. Thursday.

Only the board chair is able to call a special meeting, and on Tuesday, Crowder-Eagle said she had decided against the option. Not only does Crowder-Eagle want to focus on the budget on Thursday, but she said the board also wants to give Walter "Pete" Borden, the plaintiff in the turf case, the ten days that he is legally allowed to appeal the judge's ruling.

"Because he does have those days to appeal, certainly we don't want to put ourselves in an uncompromising position," Crowder-Eagle said. "But again, he has delayed us so much, and the judge has spoken and the voters have spoken, so we want to move forward on that."

Crowder-Eagle said she might call a special board meeting to vote on the turf within the next few weeks, but if not then, look for the item to be on the agenda for the board's May 12 work session.

Although the district has yet to release the agenda for the Thursday night board meeting, Crowder-Eagle said one of the main highlights would come before that meeting, during the board's budget workshop at 4 p.m. Superintendent Fred Sanderson is expected to present the board with a reduction in force plan that will spell out what positions will be cut for next school year.

The district is legally required to inform all teachers by May 15 if their contract will be renewed for the 2010-2011 school year. On Thursday, Sanderson will present the board with a list of positions that will not receive a contract in May.

The district is facing a deficit of $137.7 million. One of Sanderson's likely budget cuts is to increase class sizes to the state maximum, thus cutting teachers. While this cut will save the district an estimated $47.4 million, the superintendent has not yet elaborated on the number of teachers he plans to cut, citing several hundred.

Also on the board's agenda for Thursday night, Crowder-Eagle said, will be a request from Dr. Gordon Pritz, the district's associate superintendent of operational support, to be released from his contract. On Monday night, Pritz was named the superintendent for Douglas County Schools and said he wished to start his new job on May 1.