WEATHERSFIELD SCHOOLS Board OKs energy conservation work

Full-day kindergarten will start at Seaborn Elementary next school year.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield Board of Education approved an agreement for energy conservation improvements to the 23-year-old climate control units at the high school and repair of two-thirds of the high school roof.
The cost is not to exceed $1.12 million.
Seaborn Elementary School and the middle school also are getting conservation improvements, which account for about 4 percent of the total project cost, treasurer Angela Lewis told the board Wednesday night.
Lewis said the work at the high school has been under way since December and is about 80 percent to 90 percent complete.
The agreement is being arranged through the Ohio Association of School Business Officials under a state energy bill. The project had to be approved by the Ohio School Facilities Commission.
The board also approved full-day kindergarten for next school year.
Aid: Superintendent Rocco Adduci said he and Lewis learned this week that "parity aid" is available from the state for districts that are not considered low-income.
The district will receive the aid in increments of 20 percent over the next several years until the 2005 to 2006 school year, at which time it will be receiving $208,000 annually.
The district was to get $27,000 for this year, but an enrollment increase pushed that figure up to $41,000.
School officials explained that there are nine possible uses for the parity aid, one of which is to fund full-time kindergarten.
The expected cost for full-time kindergarten next year at Seaborn Elementary will be $83,296, and the district expects to get $83,249 in parity aid next year.
The district's kindergarten enrollment begins Tuesday.
The board also approved hiring Western Reserve Mechanical in Niles to make boiler repairs at Seaborn and agreed to hire Innerscope Technical Services of Austintown to do a new asbestos inspection of all three buildings in the district.