Board changes calendar to accommodate completion of new schools

March 22, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

MINERAL RIDGE

The Weathersfield school board this week approved a one-year change in the 2014-15 school calendar to accommodate completion of the Seaborn Elementary and high-school projects.

The district is “under construction” through a $26 million Ohio School Facilities project. The state has given $1.5 million toward the project and the local share is $7.5 million, to be generated by a 6.6-mill, 30-year bond issue.

The district also is paying for a new junior-high gym at the high school at a cost of $1.5 million.

Schools Superintendent Damon Dohar explained that the districts’ attorneys advised the board to have a pubic hearing on the changes that will be made to the school calendar for 2014-15 school year.

The calendar will be changed from 180 days to 172 days. Classes will start for students Sept.11 and end on May 29. Classes at the high school and Seaborn will be a half-hour longer.

The high school will start at 7:15 a.m. and finish at 2:45 p.m. Seaborn classes will start at 8 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m.

The change will be for this year only, Dohar said.

Construction at both buildings is expected to finish in late September or October.

“We want to inform the people as much as we can about the calendar change,” Dohar said.