Two people have applied for the vacancy on the Conneaut School District Board of Education to fill the open spot created in Voting Region 1 following the resignation of Cheryl Krachkowski who moved from the Region 1 area.

Following interviews it is the intent of the School Directors to fill the vacancy at their July meeting. The person appointed will serve through the end of November of this year.

Voting Region 1 consists of the Borough of Linesville and the townships of Beaver, Conneaut, North Shenango, Pine, and West Fallowfield.

Nine persons addressed the School Directors who met in special work session on June 14. Purpose of the special meeting was to review Board Goals adopted by the board a year ago and also to discuss B.U.S.S - Better Use of School Space, with 4 committees to be formed on transportation, curriculum/academics/staffing, facilities and logistics, and budgetary.

The B.U.S.S options include the review of leaving all buildings as they are used now [two buildings per attendance area with one building for K - 6 and one building for grades 7 - 12;

look at a proposal of leaving the three elementaries at Conneaut Lake, Conneaut Valley and Linesville, while Lake and Valley High Schools become middle schools and Linesville High School becomes a high school for grades 9 - 12;

an option that would close Conneaut Lake High School and keep all other buildings open and in use;

an option that would have all students in the school district in grades K - 2 attend Linesville Elementary School, change Lake and Valley High Schools to grades 3 - 8 and have Linesville High School for grades 9 - 12, while closing Lake and Valley Elementary Schools;

and an option that use the two Linesville schools for grades 9 - 12, use Valley and Lake High Schools as schools for grades K - 8, and close the Lake and Valley elementary schools.

The four committees named above would be formed with committees made up of central office staff and administration, 2 community members from each of the three attendance areas and members of the School Directors.

Members of the public were asked to sign up if they were willing to serve on the committees with committees most likely to be appointed at the board's July meeting.

Plans call for reports to be made by mid-September so plans can be made for the following school year due to budget and other planning needs.

Among the nine who addressed the board at the special work session, seven were from the Conneaut Valley area, with about 75 of the 100 in attendance being Valley residents.

Dale Gillette of the CV area said he was here to talk about consolidation and pushed a North-South option with a high school at Valley and one in the south. He suggested the combining of three high schools into two would make the sports teams more competitive in size and distance. He said small schools are what attracted him to here. He also urged distance learning as a way to address curriculum needs.

Diana Adsit of the Conneaut Lake area noted the Conneaut Lake area provides 47% of the real estate and earned income tax money to the district and noted she was opposed to the 2 high school plan. She provided handouts listing the financial aspects noted and the distances among locations in the district.

George Wallace of the CV area noted a petition passed around with 292 signatures on it supporting a North-South 2 high school plan.

Maryann Lukowich of the CV area said she supported a single high school plan, noting classes would still be small. She noted funding being taken away by the state governor and thought classes would be taken away. She worried her daughter may be behind when going off to college.

Brian Boyce of the CV area said removal of the CV schools would destroy the community. He suggested home values would decline in the CV area and indicated he would be willing to pay more [to keep CV schools].

Others who spoke were Rick Askey, Kathy Watson, and Melissa Vilk of the CV area and Richard Bridge of Summit. All speakers received applause.