BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
WILLIAMSBURG -- Ohio Gov. George Voinovich will tour Williamsburg Middle-High School today, nine months after the school opened, thanks in part to state funding.
The governor, who is running for U.S. Senate, will sit in on an educational technology class and conduct a question-and-answer session with seniors in a government class.
The school opened in January, part of a $12 million project that included the new high school and renovations of the elementary school.
The school board offices also were relocated to the old high school. That brick building on Main Street, beneath the village's rusty, blue water tank, was 74 years old.
"When I graduated in '81, we had one computer and the calculus teacher used it in his class," said Clermont Clerk of Courts David Caudill, a Williamsburg native who is active in the Voinovich-for-Senate campaign. "We had leaky roofs from time to time. The condition was generally OK, but the new school has so many advantages."
The new school, home to 650 students, has a gymnasium and auditorium separate from the five classroom wings, and public space.
Superintendent Robin Wiley said Monday that Mr. Voinovich's visit will give students what for some of them will be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet the governor.
The $12 million project funding, including $9.8 million for the middle-high school, was funded 40 percent through a local bond issue. Approximately 60 percent was through the Ohio School Facilities Commission.
