As part of Ohio's Jobs and Progress Plan, the Ohio Department of Transportation will host an open house next week to present this statewide initiative and the outreach program in the ODOT District 9 area.

The Jobs and Progress Plan was established in July 2005 to address Ohio's congestion, safety and rural access needs. The plan is the largest transportation initiative since the original creation of Ohio's interstate system. It is designed to generate more than 4,000 highway construction jobs, ease freeway congestion, improve road safety and connect rural routes.

With the J&P program, ODOT, the Federal Highway Administration, the Ohio Contractors' Association and Trade Unions have teamed together to take on one of Ohio's largest outreach programs in the state's history in order to increase the number of workers in on-the-job training programs and recruit Disadvantaged Business Enterprise.

In addition to promoting the Jobs and Progress program, the open house is for sharing ideas and encouraging participation amongst contractors, vendors and the department. Representatives from ODOT and the OCA will be joined by members of various trade unions to address issues and private-sector opportunities in the transportation-related construction industry.

“While this is not an employment recruitment fair, it is an opportunity to discuss potential business and construction ventures that are taking place in the state,” said Harry Fry, ODOT District 9 deputy director. “It is open to the public, and we encourage contractors and vendors who are interested in doing business with ODOT to attend this event.”

The outreach program will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Pike County Career and Technical Center, 175 Beaver Creek Road, Piketon.

School board makes personnel changes

The Portsmouth City Schools Board of Education met on Thursday night and accepted resignations, hired personnel and changed certification for several employees.

The board authorized the purchase of textbooks endorsed by the Board Curriculum/Instruction Committee and approved several Consent Action items and fiscal matters, such as Interim Revenues.

The meeting began with a moment of silence honoring board vice president, Dr. Lacey Curtis, who died Saturday.

From PDT staff reports