JEFFERSON TWP — Students in the South Butler School District will attend classes until June 15.

The school board at its Wednesday night meeting unanimously approved the change to the school calendar.

Superintendent David Foley said the original last day of school was June 4, but in order to allow students to attend the state-mandated 180 days of instruction, the date would be advanced to June 15.

The change was necessitated by the teachers' strike that began March 15 and continued until Tuesday.

According to state Act 88, teachers are limited in the amount of time they can strike so that students can receive their 180 days of instruction by June 15.

Board to videotape meetingsAlso at the meeting, Matt Cimbala, school board president, announced that school board meetings would now be videotaped.He did not give a reason for the action, but was questioned by some of the more than 60 people who attended the meeting.Resident Dave McCool asked Cimbala about the board's plan for making the videotapes accessible to residents.District solicitor Tom Breth replied that residents must submit a right-to-know request to the district if they are interested in viewing the videotape.Another resident asked how the videotape would be used by the district.Cimbala replied that the videotape is the district's property and might be posted on the website.“We don't know,” Cimbala said.A full story appears in the Butler Eagle.