MILLBURY — Lake Local Schools students will start and end the next academic year early to accommodate construction of a new elementary school.

At the March meeting, the board of education voted to change the calendar so that all students will start the 2022-23 school year on Aug. 22 and end on May 9.

“We’re going to be really, really tight with room on campus once the elementary school starts,” said Superintendent Jim Witt.

After meeting with the administrative team and the head of the Lake Education Association, it was decided to change the calendar, he said.

“That will allow … the dismissal at the end of the school year to be sooner, therefore the construction companies can mobilize more quickly and have unfettered access to campus starting in the middle of May,” Witt said.

The calendar could be tweaked, depending on weather and how far along the project comes, he said.

Board member Tim Krugh thanked the teachers union for their cooperation with the calendar.

“They’ve been terrific through the entire thing,” Witt said.

Lake voters in November approved a 6-mill levy that includes 2.7 mills for the new school and 3.3 mills to pay off the middle school bond.

The new two-story elementary will be 110,000 square feet and have 53 classrooms, compared to the current 32.

The new elementary will be a PK-6 building. The existing elementary houses PK-4, with grades 5-7 in the middle school and grades 8-12 in the high school.

The building should open in fall 2024.

Also at the meeting, the board:

• Approved Feb. 18 and 25 as calamity days.

• Accepted donations of clothing for middle school campers from Backpacks for Humans, two camp scholarships valued at $380 from the Lake Education Association and a camp scholarship valued at $190 from Angie Wasserman.

• Went into an executive session to discuss discipline of an employee and negotiations. No action was taken.