TRUMBULL SCHOOLS 25 on staff OK pact extension

A grant will help build gardens in the courtyard at Seaborn Elementary.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield School District's 25 nonteaching staff members have again agreed to extend their current contract through June 30, 2005.
The board approved the extension at its meeting Wednesday, marking the second time nonteaching employees have agreed to continue working under the terms of their old contract, which expired in July 2003.
Treasurer Angela Lewis said this means the employees would work a second year without a raise.
The district has been under Ohio Department of Education fiscal watch since March 2003.
Bruce Bacak, board vice president, thanked the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, the workers' union, for their cooperation "in a time of dire need."
Board President Dr. Douglas Darnall said each employee will receive a letter of commendation from the board.
Financial forecast due
Lewis then told the board that the district's new five-year financial forecast for the state is due at the end of October. She added that revenues are expected to remain about the same, but she does not know what change, if any, there will be in tax receipts from RMI Titanium, whose employees have been locked out since last year.
She said she has attempted to contact RMI officials but has been unsuccessful.
Cheryl Basista, chairwoman of the committee that is working to pass the 5.5-mill, five-year emergency levy, also told the board the committee is meeting weekly at 7 p.m. Mondays at the high school cafeteria.
The levy, if passed, would generate $558,680 a year for the schools.
She said six subcommittees have been set up, and the slogan for the levy campaign is "Preserve the Excellence."
Donations have been received by a group called the Friends of Weathersfield Schools to finance levy promotions.
Event to promote levy
A special levy promotion event will take place at 7 p.m. Oct. 21. A parade will begin at Ohltown-McDonald Road and end at the high school.
The week of Oct. 17-23 is "Spirit Week" for the traditional neighborhood rivalry football game between Mineral Ridge and McDonald, and a bonfire will be held after the parade.
In other business, the board commended Jennifer Stith, Seaborn Elementary teacher, who received a $3,000 Martha Holding Jennings grant to help build a science garden in the school courtyard to enhance math and science studies.
In addition to the grant, the Home and School Association has donated $2,000, and the fourth-grade fund, which includes receipts from previous classes, will give the project $1,000 as a gift from the pupils.
The courtyard will be laid out with a path to separate gardens that will contain a variety of plants, flowers and vegetables.
Two high school students, including a student working toward his Eagle Scout award, will construct frames for the garden beds, picnic tables and benches. Stith said a lot of parents are helping.
Fourth-graders already have built a garden in the front of the school that is full of flowers in red, white and blue in the shape of the Ohio flag.