North Canton school board adjusts calendar, gives students longer summer break

Patricia Faulhaber
·4 min read
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NORTH CANTON – Elementary students in the North Canton City School District will be ending the school year a week earlier than expected, and all students will be returning later than usual next fall.

The school board on Wednesday approved changing the last day of school for students in preschool to fifth grade to May 12. The last day for students in grades 6-12 remains May 25.

The board also adopted next school year’s calendar, which shows a series of staggered start dates for students that begin in late August, which is at least a week later than previous school years.

The start dates are:

  • Aug. 25: For students in sixth and ninth grades

  • Aug. 28: For students in grades 7-8 and 10-12

  • Aug. 30: For students in fifth grade

  • Aug. 31: For students in second and fourth grades (fifth grade does not attend)

  • Sept. 1: For students in first and third grades (students in second, fourth and fifth grades do not attend)

  • Sept. 6: For preschool and kindergarten students

The students’ last day will be May 30, 2024, and Hoover High School’s graduation is scheduled for May 19, 2024.

The calendar changes are due to the opening of the two new elementary schools at the Clearmount Elementary and Mary L. Evans Early Childhood Center properties. The $58 million project will consolidate five buildings into two schools.

The Early Childhood Center, Clearmount and Northwood Elementary will merge into a primary school for students in preschool through second grade at 200 Charlotte Ave. NW. Greentown Intermediate and Orchard Hill Intermediate will merge into an intermediate building for students in third, fourth and fifth grades.

The board on Wednesday also approved an agreement with Hammond Construction to set the maximum price the district will pay to abate and demolish Clearmount, Greentown and the Early Childhood Center at $1.37 million.

Superintendent Jeff Wendorf said the district will use Northwood for district offices, learning spaces and other district uses. Orchard Hill will be leased to the Stark County Educational Service Center for special services programs. He said while Greentown is slated to be demolished, the district still is considering whether it should pay the roughly $500,000 to abate and demolish the school or try to auction the property as it currently is.

Wendorf said the project remains on track, with demolition scheduled for the summer.

Board approves a privacy fence near Hoover High School

In other business, the school board:

  • Authorized signing an amenity easement agreement with McKinley-Applegrove Ltd. for the placement of a privacy fence along the east side of Hoover High School’s parking lot where new homes are being built as part of The Sanctuary allotment. Wendorf said having the fence “would create a better situation for both the residences and our parking lot as far as privacy and for providing better separation.” The company is paying for the fence and the homeowners must maintain their side of the fence. The district can require the removal of the fence with 30 days’ notice.

  • Agreed to set aside any additional tax revenue it receives from continued development of the Redwood apartments on Mount Pleasant Street NW to a fund designated for the 7th Street athletic facility project, which will include baseball, softball and multi-use fields.

  • Appointed Robert Roden as president pro tem to preside over the annual organizational board meeting that will be held at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 11.

  • Approved a software license and hosting agreement for $78,042 with Transfinder for the district's transportation department, effective Jan. 1 through June 30, 2026.

  • Approved the following field trips:

    • Sarah Covington, Steve Wood, Destin Heasley and 37 students from the honors-level marine biology class to travel to a marine lab in Andros Island, Bahamas, from Feb. 25 to March 4.

    • Sixth-grade students and 22 staff to attend outdoor education field trips in September at Camp Y-Noah.

    • High school choir director Doug Beery, middle school choir director Jen Roden, four chaperones and 41 Hoover High School Symphonic Choir students for an overnight field trip to Columbus for rehearsal and education with professors at Ohio State University and Capital University on Jan. 29-30.

  • Accepted the following donations: $3,000 from the Sideliners to pay for miscellaneous expenses for the Summa Celebration in March; $2,500 from the Gene Haas Foundation, $1,000 from Frank and Molly Meister and $550 from Tomtreyco for the registration/entry fees of the Hoover High School Robotics team; $500 from the North Canton Professional Firefighters for the food service department's full belly account; $500 grant from Walmart to be used by the reading specialist at Orchard Hill Intermediate School to purchase additional reading support; $3,863 from the Orchard Hill PTO for Orchard Hill's 2022-2023 Espark Licenses; $1,255 from the Orchard Hill PTO for the Orchard Hill’s student council to purchase floor matting for the Gaga Pit; and $6,000 from Nathan Oakes to be used toward the David Magoon scholarship fund, which is awarded to a Hoover High School graduating senior.

The board will next meet at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 11 in the media center of Hoover High School.

Repository education writer Kelli Weir contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: North Canton schools extends summer break for opening of new schools