The Revere Local Schools District Board of Education approved a $30,000 contract with Burges & Burges Strategists Inc., of Cleveland, to assist the district in developing a long-term facilities plan during the next six months.

At the April 15 meeting, Superintendent Elisabeth McNicholas said the development of a facilities plan is part of a strategic plan the board approved last year.

As part of the contract, Burges & Burges will complete a community survey, which will include people not directly involved in the district, to collect information on perceptions of the district, according to McNicholas.

“We want to get a good idea from the total community about what they see as the strengths and weaknesses of the district,” she said.

The contract also includes a review of district communications, interviews of local leadership, guidance of the facility planning process and preparation of communications related to the facilities plan.

In other news:

• The board approved two annual contracts for the next school year with the Summit County Educational Service Center. One is for student services and the other is for the integrated preschool program for students with disabilities.
• The preschool program used to be housed at Richfield Elementary School. However, the district is moving forward with plans to sell the building, so the preschool program has moved to the Akron Education Campus, formerly Akron Speech and Hearing, located at 700 Ghent Road.
  Revere is holding a public auction of the Richfield School building, 4315 W. Streetsboro Road, May 1 at noon. The minimum bid is $400,000. Questions about the auction should be directed to David Forrest, the district’s treasurer and chief financial officer, at (330) 523-3106 or at dforrest@revere.k12.oh.us.
• In his report to the board, Andy LaBadie, director of instruction, noted the district is holding kindergarten screening Aug. 13-14 for students entering the 2008-09 school year. In the past, kindergarten screening took place during the first three days of school. LaBadie said the earlier screening will help administrators determine class placement and allow students to start classroom activities on the first day.
  In a related item, the board approved $400 stipends for eight teachers and three speech and language pathologists to conduct the kindergarten screenings.
• In other personnel items, the board accepted resignations for retirement from: Dan Fouser, a science teacher at Revere Middle School with 31 years of service; and Don Welch, an English/media teacher who has worked at Revere High School for 35 years.
  Also leaving the district are Vasilije “Vasa” Gruich, who is retiring after working for the district’s maintenance department for 37 years; and Sue Walker, a study hall monitor at the high school, who resigned.
• The board approved the following stipends for the spring musical: $693 to Rena Baker, assistant director, and $808 to Robert Carlyon, piano accompanist.
• The board also approved stipends ranging from $1,000 to $1,250 for three teachers to work as coordinators for the district’s summer math programs.
• Prior to the business portion of the meeting, the board enjoyed a performance by members of the Revere Middle School flute ensemble, led by music teacher Mark Mitchell. Also, exchange student Shihui “Tina” presented the district with gifts from her hometown of Shanghai, China.
• Revere High School Principal Bill Adams reported the high school’s newspaper, the Lantern, won a first place award at a contest held at Kent State University in April.
• Stories written by two Bath Elementary School students, Peter Feher and Megan Gilroy, were selected to be performed by the actors of The Magical Theatre Company, of Barberton. The theater company received entries from fifth-grade students in the fall, and performed the winning stories April 4 for the entire student body.
• High school student Kathleen Marsh won a first-place award in the Summit County Schools Art Expo competition. Two middle school students also earned top honors: Emma Stewart, best of show, and Jacob Martin, first place.
• On April 12, the high school Science Olympiad team placed seventh out of 40 teams at the state competition held in Columbus. In individual competition, Jacob Emmert-Aronson placed second in “circuit” and third in both “five star sciences” and “physics lab”; Enoch Kuo placed third in both “remote sensing” and “five star science”; John Wathen placed second in “circuit lab”; and Steph White placed third in both “remote sensing” and “physics lab.”
• The middle school Science Olympiad team placed 11th out of 40 in the state tournament. A.J. Singh and Gurbani Kaur won second-place medals in individual competition in the “Disease Detectives” category.
• The middle school MATHCOUNTS team placed fourth in state competition April 5. The team consisted of Carl Ahlborg, Kaur, Sam Kuo and Edwin Zhang.

The next regular school board meeting will be May 20 at 7 p.m. at the board’s Administrative Office, 3496 Everett Road.