footballsalads43
Well-known member
I think maybe 10-15 years ago there was more of a conversation of splitting into two for Centerville, but they have seemed to be rather stable and I think their enrollment will remain near it’s current count.
What are some Ohio School Districts that should be consolidated? What are some Ohio School Districts that should consider adding another High School?
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Is there room for another Olentangy? Maybe 2?
Kidding, wish some schools in Columbus didn't split, the original plan with at least Darby was to add a story to Darby, instead they added a third school. Olentangy is growing like crazy, and I believe Berkshire is on the way, crazy.
Kidding, wish some schools in Columbus didn't split, the original plan with at least Darby was to add a story to Darby, instead they added a third school. Olentangy is growing like crazy, and I believe Berkshire is on the way, crazy.
When Olentangy Berlin (#4 HS) opened, I read that Olentangy schools was looking for land for #5 HS in Concord TWP. Basically between Olentangy Liberty HS and Delaware city limits. .
algernonsidney
Well-known member
The number of school districts in Ohio is ridiculous. West Virginia has 55 counties and 55 school districts--the county is the district. I can't understand why more states don't do it this way.
Belmont County should just have Belmont East and Belmont West. Jefferson County would do just fine with Jefferson North and Jefferson South.
Belmont County should just have Belmont East and Belmont West. Jefferson County would do just fine with Jefferson North and Jefferson South.
EagleFan
Fan of Eagle
August 2027 was planned opening, but they'll have to get process going soon to get it built by then.
West Vrginia's population is 1.7 million
Ohio's is 11.8 million
LS92
Well-known member
Per the 2020 US Census Bureau numbers, populations are: Ohio = 11,799,448; West Virginia = 1,793,716.
Per PublicSchoolsK12, WV has 55 local school districts with 772 schools and 282,729 students.
From the same site, OH has 614 local school districts with 3878 schools and 1,816,947 students.
Ohio has one local school district per: 19,217 people; per 2959 students; per 6.32 schools; 469 students per school.
WV has one local school district per: 32,613 people; per 5140 students; per 14.04 schools; 366 students per school.
So, yes, WV has fewer, more consolidated schools than Ohio from a population perspective, but smaller number of students per school. While reducing governmental overhead (number of public school districts) is a good thing, local control and decision making (also number of local school districts) is a good thing. A balance has to be struck, and given the demographics of the two states, it looks to me like both are fairly reasonable.
Shelbyrr11
Well-known member
Ignoring land constraints and such, how do we feel about some of these schools in Southwest Ohio that easily list as the largest in Ohio? Pros and cons?
Columbus has the habit of adding schools before they reach the size you see with the likes of Centerville, Mason, the Lakotas, etc.
I don't know what the historical peaks of some of the Cleveland schools were, but the big ones up there parallel the Columbus ones in enrollments fairly closely.
Meanwhile, Indiana's biggest high schools dwarf the Centervilles, Masons, and Lakotas of our world.
I went to a Big East college that was smaller than the Lakotas. The concept of these giant high schools elude me.
Columbus has the habit of adding schools before they reach the size you see with the likes of Centerville, Mason, the Lakotas, etc.
I don't know what the historical peaks of some of the Cleveland schools were, but the big ones up there parallel the Columbus ones in enrollments fairly closely.
Meanwhile, Indiana's biggest high schools dwarf the Centervilles, Masons, and Lakotas of our world.
I went to a Big East college that was smaller than the Lakotas. The concept of these giant high schools elude me.
It’s the same way in other states. I live in Virginia. Our county has 1.1 million people. 1 school district.
Is there only 1 high school in that district or is there multiple? I believe there is more than 55 high schools 9-12 in WV even though there are 55 districts.
Where I could see consolidation is at the administrative level with superintendents and treasurers and such. The pool of candidates is dwindling, why not go back to some form of county wide administration?
Back in the day, counties in Ohio had superintendents, but a city school district or exempted school district were allowed to not follow the county superintendent and could have their own. You still see “exempted” school districts in Ohio, with roughly 50 across the state. Ada, Versailles, Hicksville, Paulding, Coldwater, Bluffton, Wauseon are all still exempted school districts and it is displayed in their buses! Celina used to be an exempted village district up until the 50s when it became Celina City Schools.
Why not merge multiple smaller districts into one administrative organization while keeping the individual schools intact? Not saying every school should, but certain ones should.
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Bruce Monnin
Well-known member
Because what would happen is you would still have administration in each of those smaller school districts, but additional administrators would be added above them. Then you would have fight over whether school would use the money collected locally or would it be redistributed throughout these schools. And if part of the district wants good schools and are willing to pay for them, are they drug down by other areas of this larger district who refuse to vote for the funds?
The final result is probably an expansion of private schools in these areas.
It opens the doors for shoddy treasurers to get into a district and completely ruin it financially when you are pulling from an almost non-existent pool of candidates.
CC Track Fan
Well-known member
WV certainly has more than one HS per district.
I know Hancock County still have a county superintendent and school board. I am not sure what responsibilities they have but do know if live in Findlay cannot serve on the school board. So Findlay is not part of it.
dnis30
WE ARE LUCAS.
We do need a new school. Our HS was built in 1918. The original hardwood floors creak when you walk down the halls. I pray we never have to consolidate. My youngest son (Logan Niswander) graduated from Lucas in 2020. All three of his older sisters graduated from Lucas well. I graduated in 1993 from Lucas. My mom graduated from Lucas. Her mom and dad graduated from Lucas in the late 20s. We love this community. It would break my heart if Lucas Local schools didn't exist. We have tried and tried to get the levy passed, but there is a large faction of older folks here that do not want their taxes raised. I guess they worry more about their pocketbooks than they do about our school system.
Big Lex Fan
Well-known member
I agree Lucas is a very proud community. And being a Lexington grad and fan. I love the atmosphere at Friday night Lucas home game. Great music, concessions and the fireworks. Followed the Cubs on several of their play-off runs over the years. But unfortunately I do believe consolidation will happen if new buildings are not built. Lucas I believe has competed in football and basketball since at least the mid 1920s maybe even the 1910s.
Burreaux
Mr. SEO
Off the top of my head even in the largest counties there is one with more than 5, Monongalia has 3, Berkeley has 4 and Spring Mills wasn’t opened until ‘13 so the same, Kanawha has 8
dnis30
WE ARE LUCAS.
Their run to the state title game in 2019 was incredible to be a part of. My son was the QB. We went from the high of being a D7 runner-up in football to the low of our 26-1 basketball team having their season ended (in the regional finals) by some OHSAA buffoon over CV-19.
You're right about the school. I worry about it constantly. Ugh.
BelowTheLine
Well-known member
This might be the most obvious one in the state. Not only is Sebring completely surrounded by West Branch, but West Branch has more than enough building space to accommodate all of the students.
I work in one of these educational campuses. If the different administrations in the building can stay in alignment, it can have a real positive effect on campus culture. I've seen some positive changes occur over the 8 years I've been in the building.
Unfortunately, the campus athletics have been awful outside of the baseball program (which made it to the city championship at Yankee Stadium in 2018). The AD works on a part-time basis as a full-time teacher for one of the schools and is just not good at the AD part of their job. For a campus of nearly 2,000 students the athletic offerings have always been subpar. All coaches are teachers and have often filled their teams with predominantly students from their individual school in the building - essentially alienating 2/3 of the campus for each sport.
Next season we'll be combining with another (smaller) campus in our neighborhood to offer soccer and football, which is a step in the right direction.
bob99
Well-known member
How many of the older folks live off their social security? Maybe they don't have the financial ability to pay higher taxes.
More and higher taxes may tax them out of their homes.
22 high schools. 1 superintendent
Winnie Pooh
Well-known member
Breaking news: Ohio superintendents in the county vote to eliminate own jobs, cede control of school district to county authority.
Let me know when y'all see that headline
Winnie Pooh
Well-known member
That order came from DeWine.
LS92
Well-known member
smurfyeah19
Well-known member
Agreed. I'm shocked we don't see more of this outside of the cities, county dictates school district boundary lines and who goes where. Ohio's system of every town or group of towns running themselves is pretty wild compared to most of the country
This is my worry for our state. We've lost too many millenials to the Sun Belt and those that have stayed seem to have congregated around Columbus and Cincinnati. All these towns are going to be stuck with facilities they can't fund because they're demographically upside down
irish_buffalo
Well-known member
This works well with smaller rural counties. There are 24 cities in Ohio with more people than West Virginia's most populous town (Charleston). And there are another 15 that are close.