CORTLAND Changes in store next fall in the Lakewood district

Middle and high school pupils will ride the same bus next year.
By VALERIE BANNER
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CORTLAND -- Pupils and teachers at Lakeview schools can expect many changes next fall.
Kindergarteners, first- and second-grade pupils will move to Bazetta Elementary; third- and fourth-grade pupils will move to Cortland Elementary. Bus schedules will be adjusted, and five teachers will have to find new jobs.
Those changes could save the district between $300,000 and $330,000, said Treasurer Melton Williams.
The Lakeview Board of Education voted Monday night to suspend contracts for three elementary school teachers, one middle-school teacher and one high-school teacher at the end of this school year.
How it is now
Right now, kindergarten through fourth-grade pupils who live in Bazetta attend Bazetta Elementary, and those who live in Cortland attend Cortland Elementary.
Putting all the third-graders in Cortland Elementary, for example, will keep one school from having 14 in a class and another from having 27 in a class, the superintendent added.
The new bus schedules will eliminate one run each day. Middle and high school pupils will ride together, and elementary pupils will ride on the second run.
The bus time shifts also will affect the arrival and dismissal times of most schools, he said.
Parents voiced questions about fifth-graders riding the same bus as seniors and about handicap access at Cortland Elementary.
Chojnacki and school board members said they couldn't answer all the questions because many of the details of the plans are not final.
Board members later voted to set an annual tuition of $3,669.11 for nonresidents who wish to attend Lakeview schools, approved $40,753 for property insurance -- an increase over the $26,983 spent last year -- and accepted the bid of D.J. Porter Construction Co. of Austintown of $108,048 to build a new concession stand near the stadium. The concession stand will be completed by the fall.