By Michael D. Clark
The Cincinnati Enquirer

INDIAN HILL - New elementary and high schools here will open four months ahead of schedule.

Indian Hill Board of Education members heard during their public meeting Tuesday evening that the new buildings, estimated to cost a combined $45.6 million, are expected to be ready for students by early April.

Board members instructed Superintendent David Quattrone to begin studying the logistics of moving students and staff into the two new buildings during the school system's spring break that begins March 29.

The new high school, with grades 9-12, is adjacent to the current high school at 6845 Drake Road.

The new Indian Hill Elementary, which will house grades 3-5, is located next to the old school at 6100 Drake Road.

Quattrone said the district will attempt to make the move for the elementary's 526 students and the high school's 704 students with minimal disruption.

"We want to keep as much time concentrating on teaching and learning rather than logistics," he said.

In other action, the board voted 4-0, with member Ted Jaroszewicz absent, to approve a new, three-year labor contract with the district's 189 teachers after 11 months of negotiations.

Though the contract talks were longer than usual, said Quattrone, he was nevertheless happy "that we avoided the acrimony and inability to settle that has inflicted some other districts."

The average teacher salary in Indian Hill is about $40,000, he said.

The new contract calls for a 4 percent raise in the first year.

That will be followed by 3.75 percent raises in each of the remaining two years.

E-mail mclark@enquirer.com