OXFORD – Larry Rowe calls it an “open kimono” policy.

“You bare it all,” the former Johnson City superintendent explained last night to the Oxford school board and the community members and staff who sit on the district’s capital project planning committee.

Rowe, who has volunteered to facilitate the group, has recommended that the board throw out its accelerated timeline in favor of a framework which will allow more interaction and input from the community and the district’s faculty and staff.

By doing so, he explained to them, “You are going to build what I call trust.”

Rather than keep to the established meeting schedule, which included a meeting tonight and subsequent meetings on Feb.1 and 22, Rowe suggested they hold off on further meetings until they have given the district’s staff an opportunity to formulate their thoughts and needs regarding any potential project.

“There hasn’t been enough interaction with staff,” he said. His recommendation involved allowing the school’s support, administrative and teaching staff time to meet in small groups, by grade level and discipline, to discuss how the facilities are currently serving the district’s educational needs, how that could be improved by changing grade configurations, etc.

“The need for a project should really emanate from those working most closely with your children,” he explained.