ROSSFORD — The Board of Education today voted unanimously to wait until August, 2014 to implement
grade cluster buildings in the district.The plan presented at a special meeting of the board would have all
the district’s pre-kindergarten through second graders at Glenwood Elementary, all third, fourth and fifth
graders at Eagle Point, and sixth graders at the junior high.The meeting was held to seek public comment,
not so much on the plan as the timing. The comments from the crowd of about 140 were almost all in favor of
waiting until 2014 instead of going ahead with the plan this August.Concerns included whether the district
should spend the money making this when it is in the middle of a process to decide on whether to build new
schools or do extensive renovations on its existing buildings.Board Member Ken Sutter noted if a funding
item was passed in November, any new buildings would be about three years out.Some wondered if the junior
high could handle the influx of sixth graders.And the need for new bus schedules and routes was also brought
up.Also, Indian Hills Elementary, which would no longer be used as a school under the plan, is the
district’s only handicapped accessible building.The plan was put forth both to save money by closing a
school, and thereby reducing the number of teachers and other staff needed.But interim Superintendent Bill
McFarland said the administration did not know how much the plan would save.The plan is also intended to
maintain and improve the quality of education in the district, and help it deal with increasing state
mandates including a new teacher evaluation system.McFarland said at the beginning of the meeting that
implementing grade configuration for August would be “a tremendous undertaking.”