WOODSFIELD - The Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio laid the corner stones Saturday for the new Woodsfield Elementary and Monroe Central High schools.
The new school buildings are nearly complete, elementary students will start school in new school with completion date aimed for August. The high schoolers will have to wait until late September to early October to enter their new school.
The ceremony begin with words from Superintendent Larry Elliot.
Article Photos
ABOVE: These are the cornerstones that go on the northeast walls of the new Woodsfield Elementary and Monroe Central High School. The ceremony was held Saturday. RIGHT: Kevin B. Todd, the Grand Master, puts the last of the mortar on the elementary cornerstone.
T-L Photo/KAYLA?VAN?DYNE
"It's with great pride and honor as a mason and superintendent to be here today," said Elliot. "(We've) built these structures to put pride back into the community."
The building of new schools is something the town of Woodsfield has been waiting on since 1994, when Monroe Central High School consolidated and moved to what is now Swiss Hills Vocational School.
"These are great kids, they deserve this," said Jerry Calder, principal for Monroe Central High School. "When we went to Swill Hills, we couldn't wait to get to this point, but we never thought it would take 18 years."
The student council collected items to be placed in time capsules for each school. The various items collected represent the current classes of 2012 and pop culture. For the high school, the caskets contains a cover of Seventeen Magazine, high school photo, a football, and the top five songs, movies, and actors of right now.
For the elementary school, they have added newspaper clippings, a class picture, Ohio State Flag, and a toy bus.
"We have a great staff and I would put it against anyone's in the state of Ohio," said Clint Abbott, the principal of Woodsfield Elementary. "Our future is very bright and we have a great facility to with our staff."
The Masons will lay the corner stone on each of the Northeast corner of the new schools built in the Switzerland of Ohio School District.
The corner stones will be donated by Randy and Lisa Gallagher of Gallagher Monuments.
"Corner stones are our hope and dreams for our children," said Jesse Raines, Junior Grand Deacon, Grand Lodge of Ohio. "These schools are more then a building, but a place of value and part of the community."
Van Dyne can be reached at kvandyne@timesleader online.come
