WEATHERSFIELD SCHOOLS Committee to discuss levy renewal

The school board approved the 2005-06 calendar.
MINERAL RIDGE -- A committee formed to push for renewal of a tax levy in the Weathersfield Local School District will hold its initial meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the high school library.
The group will push for renewal of a 4.2 mill, five-year emergency levy.
Cheryl Bassista will chair the committee and her husband, Bill, will be treasurer. The committee's efforts helped to gain passage of a 5.5 mill five-year emergency levy in November to raise $538,168 annually. School officials have explained that renewal of the 4.2 mill emergency levy, which generates $418,128 annually, is vital. The district is still under state fiscal watch, even with passage of the new levy in November.
The renewal levy was originally passed in November 1995.
Additional business
In other business Wednesday, the school board approved the 2005-06 calendar, with pupils starting school Aug. 29 and classes ending May 31.
The calendar provides for a two-day break at Easter, the same as this year.
Superintendent Michael Hanshaw said negotiations with the district's teachers union will start Feb. 24.
The teachers are working without a new contract for the current school year.
He noted that the union was previously called the Weathersfield Teachers Association and was affiliated with the Ohio Education Association but has split from the OEA.
The teachers formed a new union, the Mineral Ridge Teachers Association, which was certified by the State Employees Relations Board in December, Hanshaw said. The group's president is Jennifer Staunton.
In other business, the board commended the Mineral Ridge Middle School for donating $250 to the American Red Cross for tsunami relief.