"We need to change the way we do business," says committee member Joseph G. Grassi.

Committee members say they hope to revise the procedure for how members obtain information from the school district's central office.

Superintendent of Schools Bobbie J. D'Alessandro says she receives between 20 to 40 requests for information each month from the school committee.

"I try to get two or three a week done," she says. "We look at it and we grind it out."

The requests vary in scope and importance--everything from how much fertilizer is used on the lawn of the Graham and Parks school to a report on minority achievement for the last decade, she says.

As communications are streamlined between her office and the school committee, D'Alessandro says she wants to "try to limit the number of requests" to maybe one per committee member per meeting and to review the lists' items and figure out "which are still appropriate."

"I'm praying they get swiped," she says of the outdated requests.

D'Alessandro says she wants to spend less time dealing with small-scale management issues and more time on long-term planning for broad issues like special education.