MARTINS FERRY — Long-awaited renovation work on the building floors is nearly complete in time for the holidays in the Martins Ferry City School District.

The board heard a report Tuesday from Superintendent Jim Fogle, who said renovation of two more rooms in the high school will be completed and the rooms will be free for use by the end of the week, with work on the final room to commence on Monday.

“Flooring will become a focus over the holiday break, so we are reaching an end of Phase 1, right on schedule,” Fogle said, adding that new flooring would commence as soon as work on the final room was complete.

Since before summer, the district has been addressing an issue of heaving floors due to expanding pyrite in the ground beneath the foundation’s concrete slab. The slab was being replaced with new concrete and secured. The majority of work was completed prior to the start of the school year.

“There’s a substantial completion date in the middle of January,” Fogle said.

He said the district would monitor the situation to determine if additional work was needed. “They’ve measured all of the heaves in the building, so from those measurements periodically … we’ll compare it. If we see a lot of heave or we start having problems like we did prior to Phase 1 — we started having problems with plumbing and things of that nature.

“Our staff and our students have done an incredible job,” he said.

Fogle also commended the construction company JD&E for its workers’ consideration of the school’s mission of education.

“They’ve worked around us, and we’ve worked around them. It’s been amazing that you can actually have a project of this size and magnitude take place, this remediation, while education is still going on.”

The district is also prepared for inclement weather.

“Cold weather is obviously on its way,” Fogle said, adding that 22 tons of road salt has been stockpiled.

He said if weather is questionable, the district would decide whether to cancel classes by 5:15 a.m. before buses are on the road at 5:45 a.m.

“We encourage everyone to sign up for Rider Watch,” Fogle said, mentioning the district’s alert system. He said it is easily done through the district website, mfcsd.k12.oh.us. “Rider Watch is also the way we communicate any emergency situation that would happen here on campus.”

Bethany Lucas, special education coordinator, was approved as an anti-harassment compliance officer, replacing Sean Zeakes, who is now working as an assistant principal at the elementary school.

“It’s tough to be a building principal and do what you need to do at the building level and also be someone who is referred in a potential harassment case,” Fogle said, adding the district will have two compliance officers with Lucas and Jodi Jackfert, psychologist. He said duties for both are without pay.

“She’s taking more on her plate, and we appreciate her taking that role,” Fogle said.

In answer to a question from a board member, Fogle said the board could approve additional compliance officers if desired. Afterward, Fogle said this is not in response to increasing harassment within the district.

The board members held closed-door sessions for more than an hour in total. The board went into an executive session for about 20 minutes to discuss compensation of a public employee or official. The board went into another executive session to discuss matters required to be kept confidential by federal law or state statutes. The board denied a grievance from middle school teacher Greg Kumse. No further information was available at the meeting.

The second grade musical will be held at 1:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. today at Ayers Elementary. The high school Christmas concert will be held at the high school/middle school cafeteria at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The Christmas break will be Dec. 21-Jan. 3.