Eclipse: Waynesville schools plan community-wide event

Wayne Local Schools is making next week’s Great American Solar Eclipse a Waynesville-wide event in partnership with the Mary L. Cook Public Library, bringing all students to the district’s stadium, and inviting the public to join.

Monday’s eclipse marks the first time since 1918 that a solar eclipse will be visible across the entire continental United States, and southwest Ohio will experience a roughly 90 percent obscuration of the sun — making the daylight appear dim and the air cooler, peaking at 2:28 p.m.

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Waynesville school officials say students will be in place in the stadium at 12:45 p.m., when library programming director Mark Reinemann will do a 15-minute pre-eclipse presentation leading up to the eclipse beginning at 1 p.m.

The school district purchased more than 2,000 eclipse-safe viewing filters. Teachers and other school staff will supervise, not allowing students to use any filter that is scratched, punctured, torn, or otherwise damaged.

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School officials said there should be about 500 viewing filters available for community members, but those who have certified filters of their own are encouraged to bring them. Lawn chairs and blankets also may be brought to the stadium.

RELATED: Oakwood students to travel hundreds of miles to see total eclipse

Schools will dismiss at normal times, so high school and middle school buses will leave just after 2:30 p.m., near the peak of the eclipse. The elementary school doesn’t dismiss until 3:30 p.m.

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Parents can opt their students out of participating if they wish by submitting an opt-out form to their school anytime prior to the event.

QUIZ: What do you know about solar eclipses?

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