What are some Ohio School Districts that should be consolidated? What are some Ohio School Districts that should consider adding another High School?

irish_buffalo said:
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.
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If you are opposed to having big school districts, then you need to divide Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus. Each city is one school district. You should divide them into at least six districts in each city. If there are these gigantic school districts with ten big schools, then what is the point of having so many districts?

When I lived in the Columbus area, there were lots of people who didn't even know what school district they lived in. Who knows where all these school-district boundaries are?

Then you have totally absurd situations like Sebring.

My point is that there is no reason for Bellaire and Shadyside to be separate. There is no reason for Martins Ferry and Bridgeport to be separate.
 
algernonsidney said:
If you are opposed to having big school districts, then you need to divide Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus. Each city is one school district. You should divide them into at least six districts in each city. If there are these gigantic school districts with ten big schools, then what is the point of having so many districts?

When I lived in the Columbus area, there were lots of people who didn't even know what school district they lived in. Who knows where all these school-district boundaries are?

Then you have totally absurd situations like Sebring.

My point is that there is no reason for Bellaire and Shadyside to be separate. There is no reason for Martins Ferry and Bridgeport to be separate.
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If a district can financially look after itself then why do you care? Is the districts existence really hurting you? I'm relatively sure the fine residents of each of these communities could give a %^&* less what your thoughts are on them controlling their owns lives and community based on what they feel is best for them.
 
bob99 said:
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.
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I get it. That makes the situation even worse.
 
algernonsidney said:
If you are opposed to having big school districts, then you need to divide Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus. Each city is one school district. You should divide them into at least six districts in each city. If there are these gigantic school districts with ten big schools, then what is the point of having so many districts?
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Absolutely. These big city school boards can be political positions, a starting point for moving up the ladder towards higher office. They seem to spend more time discussing national political issues than figuring out how to improve reading and math scores. Smaller school districts seem to focus on the basics much better.
 
scbuckeye99 said:
If a district can financially look after itself then why do you care? Is the districts existence really hurting you? I'm relatively sure the fine residents of each of these communities could give a %^&* less what your thoughts are on them controlling their owns lives and community based on what they feel is best for them.
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Can you look at what the title of the thread is? Why are you here?
 
Shelby County is also ridiculous. They have seven high schools and a population of 48,230.

It wasn't hard to look up high schools in West Virginia. Kanawha County (Charleston) has eight high schools and a population of 180,745. After that, no county has more than four high schools. If Shelby County had a population of 180,745, I guess they would have 26 high schools?
 
Shelbyrr11 said:
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.
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Historical peaks of schools in NEO I have to imagine would drawf Columbus. I could be wrong. I know the largest suburban NEO schools had enrollments over 3000. I imagine Euclid, Lakewood, the Parma and Lorain schools. Parma when they had around 100K residents

I know Heights High's peak enrollment was 3200 students in 3 grades in the late 60s. I am not sure if many Columbus area schools had enrollments near 3K, maybe before school splits.

How large did Dublin HS or Westerville HS ever get before splitting? Or Worthington?
 
Winnie Pooh said:
Now do Trumbull County.
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I forgot about this message. But here's my ad hoc idea for compressing Trumbull into fewer districts/high schools.

First, the entire top of the county gets put into one district. Bristol/Bloomfield/Maplewood/ and the Kinsman Twp area of Badger into Trumbull North.

Southington, LaBrae, and Champion into Trumbull West.

Newton Falls, Lordstown, and Weathersfield/Mineral Ridge into Trumbull Southwest.

Niles, McDonald, and Girard into Trumbull South.

Liberty, Brookfield, and Hubbard into Trumbull Southeast.

Warren and Howland into Trumbull Central.

Lakeview, Mathews, and south half of Badger into Trumbull East.


That's down to just 7 schools. Name them whatever, but that's about the best way to condense them down without playing favorites, keeping one school alone (such as Harding being left untouched)

There's still some size disparity in the schools. But geography compared to population matters. As wide as a Trumbull North would be, the lack of traffic still makes that drive easy. There's precedence over in PA that the entire north edge of Lawrence county is Wilmington Area. It's a narrow band, but it puts a lot of similar land/demographics/farm areas into the same district rather than doing more of the 'city-and-outward' setup of other districts.
 
Bruce Monnin said:
Absolutely. These big city school boards can be political positions, a starting point for moving up the ladder towards higher office. They seem to spend more time discussing national political issues than figuring out how to improve reading and math scores. Smaller school districts seem to focus on the basics much better.
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smaller schools, in general have a smaller diversity of economics and culture. A smaller diversity of "basics." This also increases community support. I've seen a few smaller district boards though. I wouldn't say they are any less territorial, uh, political. lol. But at least they do have elected boards that are responsible to the people off whose money they are living. ;)
 
Hoan_Vonden said:
Maybe if tax payer money would stop going to private schools public schools would have more money to operate? That needs to stop. Most of the public does not know their taxes are going to pay for well to do schools.
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additionally most of the public thinks that public money is going to send exclusively poor, impoverished homeless to "better:" education. Wrong on so many counts. Now, I'm not FOR taking the eye off the ball, making sure the local publics are using that money towards providing in-situ education as opposed to over bloated and complicit administration. But at least they are in the position of having eyes on.
 
eastisbest said:
additionally most of the public thinks that public money is going to send exclusively poor, impoverished homeless to "better:" education. Wrong on so many counts. Now, I'm not FOR taking the eye off the ball, making sure the local publics are using that money towards providing in-situ education as opposed to over bloated and complicit administration. But at least they are in the position of having eyes on.
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That’s another major problem with charter schools - minimal oversight.

Doesn’t help Huffman over here in western Ohio has been tied to private schools for generations.
 
algernonsidney said:
Shelby County is also ridiculous. They have seven high schools and a population of 48,230.

It wasn't hard to look up high schools in West Virginia. Kanawha County (Charleston) has eight high schools and a population of 180,745. After that, no county has more than four high schools. If Shelby County had a population of 180,745, I guess they would have 26 high schools?
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Is the non-ridiculous West Virginia education system highly rated as though Ohio should aspire to be more like it?
 
serpico said:
Is the non-ridiculous West Virginia education system highly rated as though Ohio should aspire to be more like it?
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I had a relative who was a minister near Matewan W.Va. Several teachers l were members in his parish. Most cited then the lack of educational opportunities provided for the students. Many of those in the " holler " sent their children to school sporadically, and the teacher showed me her school building. A cement block building, few windows and limited technologies. Mind you this was in the far western part of the state on the Kentucky border. Hopefully things have improved.
 
algernonsidney said:
Shelby County is also ridiculous. They have seven high schools and a population of 48,230.

It wasn't hard to look up high schools in West Virginia. Kanawha County (Charleston) has eight high schools and a population of 180,745. After that, no county has more than four high schools. If Shelby County had a population of 180,745, I guess they would have 26 high schools?
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If any of those schools in Shelby county (Fairlawn being an exception) were to merge with another, in increase in average time students spend on a bus would increase dramatically. In theory you could merge Anna with Botkins, but I can't see much advantage in that. As for Russia, no one is voting to send those kids all the way to Houston or Fort Loramie (Versailles, perhaps).
 
cdub4 said:
Historical peaks of schools in NEO I have to imagine would drawf Columbus. I could be wrong. I know the largest suburban NEO schools had enrollments over 3000. I imagine Euclid, Lakewood, the Parma and Lorain schools. Parma when they had around 100K residents

I know Heights High's peak enrollment was 3200 students in 3 grades in the late 60s. I am not sure if many Columbus area schools had enrollments near 3K, maybe before school splits.

How large did Dublin HS or Westerville HS ever get before splitting? Or Worthington?
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Best I can do for the bolded point is the following, which has no consideration for actual enrollment:

Coffman has been around for a while.
Scioto since 1995
Jerome since 2004

Westerville South for a while
Westerville North since 1975
Westerville Central since 2003

If I go off of the Olentangys, they add schools that wind up being D2 in football for a short spell. Could be policy where they don't move all the HS students over immediately upon creation. When Olentangy Liberty came about, my local Shelby would play them in hoops and it didn't come across as some giant disparity. The same thing today would be unthinkable.
 
Shelbyrr11 said:
Best I can do for the bolded point is the following, which has no consideration for actual enrollment:

Coffman has been around for a while.
Scioto since 1995
Jerome since 2004

Westerville South for a while
Westerville North since 1975
Westerville Central since 2003

If I go off of the Olentangys, they add schools that wind up being D2 in football for a short spell. Could be policy where they don't move all the HS students over immediately upon creation. When Olentangy Liberty came about, my local Shelby would play them in hoops and it didn't come across as some giant disparity. The same thing today would be unthinkable.
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I was a freshman at OSU in 94-95. I remember the Dublin split but I imagine the enrollment of Dublin HS was much more than 2000 at the time. Pickerington split at some point. I dont think too many Columbus area HS had peak enrollments of over 2500 like HS in other metros but could be wrong.

I would be curious what UA's or Worthington HS peak enrollments were. But I do know several schools in NEO peaked over 3K after the baby boom.
 
cdub4 said:
I was a freshman at OSU in 94-95. I remember the Dublin split but I imagine the enrollment of Dublin HS was much more than 2000 at the time. Pickerington split at some point. I dont think too many Columbus area HS had peak enrollments of over 2500 like HS in other metros but could be wrong.

I would be curious what UA's or Worthington HS peak enrollments were. But I do know several schools in NEO peaked over 3K after the baby boom.
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The largest peak enrollment for Central Ohio was likely a City League school, and my guess is Walnut Ridge in the early 70’s holds that crown at ~2300 (allegedly) in grades 10-12.

It’s possible that Northland or West has the Scotties beat, though.
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Shelbyrr11 said:
Best I can do for the bolded point is the following, which has no consideration for actual enrollment:

Coffman has been around for a while.
Scioto since 1995
Jerome since 2004

Westerville South for a while
Westerville North since 1975
Westerville Central since 2003

If I go off of the Olentangys, they add schools that wind up being D2 in football for a short spell. Could be policy where they don't move all the HS students over immediately upon creation. When Olentangy Liberty came about, my local Shelby would play them in hoops and it didn't come across as some giant disparity. The same thing today would be unthinkable.
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I know with Berlin they let the incoming Seniors stay at their school and only moved 9-11 that first year.
 
In Columbus, Gahanna would have been a district poised build a second high school. Instead, they chose to continue to build on to their 1 high school. Not sure why their approach was different than the surrounding districts. Upper Arlington is land locked, they will probably never add a second high school. Not sure what the plans are for Reynoldsburg, although a lot of the new growth around Columbus is east and south of the city.
 
The Dock said:
The largest peak enrollment for Central Ohio was likely a City League school, and my guess is Walnut Ridge in the early 70’s holds that crown at ~2300 (allegedly) in grades 10-12.

It’s possible that Northland or West has the Scotties beat, though.
View attachment 81707
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Gahanna Lincoln right now has around 2400 but in 4 grades. I did see where Worthington High had around 600 a class in a Dispatch article at the time they ordered Kilbourne. I never heard of any Central Ohio school with a 3000 student enrollment in any decade.
 
cdub4 said:
Gahanna Lincoln right now has around 2400 but in 4 grades. I did see where Worthington High had around 600 a class in a Dispatch article at the time they ordered Kilbourne. I never heard of any Central Ohio school with a 3000 student enrollment in any decade.
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I still think the peak enrollment, even if it didn’t hit the 3K mark, would’ve been from one of the City League schools within the periphery of Columbus (e.g. Northland, West, WR) or possibly someone like East High “E-High!”

The primary source I have on Walnut Ridge is a yearbook from that era. I can use my “phone-a-friend, while they’re still living” lifeline to figure out more on WR then, like if it indeed had a ninth grade on campus (the yearbook only has sophs/juniors/seniors.) Everything I know about that general era of the City League schools tells me those schools and neighborhoods were spitting images of both Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Dazed & Confused.

I think West is the most likely to have had the peak enrollment. Briggs HS wasn’t created until 1974, so the Cowboys were the only public school on that side of town. On the east side, Independence was built in ‘76 (hence the mascot.)

The non-city league school that I suspect actually would’ve had the peak enrollment, if not West? Westland. Slight possibility it was Grove City, too, before the construction of Central Crossing in the early 2000’s.
 
The Dock said:
I still think the peak enrollment, even if it didn’t hit the 3K mark, would’ve been from one of the City League schools within the periphery of Columbus (e.g. Northland, West, WR) or possibly someone like East High “E-High!”

The primary source I have on Walnut Ridge is a yearbook from that era. I can use my “phone-a-friend, while they’re still living” lifeline to figure out more on WR then, like if it indeed had a ninth grade on campus (the yearbook only has sophs/juniors/seniors.) Everything I know about that general era of the City League schools tells me those schools and neighborhoods were spitting images of both Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Dazed & Confused.

I think West is the most likely to have had the peak enrollment. Briggs HS wasn’t created until 1974, so the Cowboys were the only public school on that side of town. On the east side, Independence was built in ‘76 (hence the mascot.)

The non-city league school that I suspect actually would’ve had the peak enrollment, if not West? Westland. Slight possibility it was Grove City, too, before the construction of Central Crossing in the early 2000’s.
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According to Wikipedia Walnut Ridge had a peak enrollment of over 1800 in 3 grades in the early 70s. I also saw an article that said Pickerington HS had 2180 students before Pick North opened. To your point, I think Grove City was maybe in that range before they split. I think 2000-2200 is the magic number in Central Ohio.
 
ctown14 said:
I don’t believe there are any situations currently in the state.

Where I think it could play out is if 2 neighboring districts are needing new schools and somehow the state intervenes and says, combine or you aren’t getting new schools. Highly doubtful. I don’t believe 2 districts would come to that conclusion on their own without intervention from the state because of school pride. State missed the boat on this in the early 2000s when they were giving out 75%+ funding for new schools to tiny districts like Ottoville and Fort Jennings who have enrollments around 500 each K-12 and
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This situation does exist. Two recent state football champs (in 2022) Canfield and South Range are approx. 6 miles apart. South Range, which itself is a consolidation, has a relatively new single building campus. Canfield is a multi-building district with a couple of aging structures. Both have, in the past, been called affluent districts by the state. Experience over the last decade would show that right now, the sun has a better chance of rising in the west, than either of these schools have a chance of ever passing a new levy. Renewals barely sqeak by. Folks want to move in to the districts, just don't ask for financial support.
 
My kids graduated from Darby High School in the Hilliard City School District a couple years before Bradley was opened. I think the larger of their two classes had a bit over 600 graduating seniors.

cdub4 - you're exactly right about school size. Most Central Ohio districts aim for that enrollment number as the sweet spot for HS numbers. The notable exception is East Side cluster (Gahanna, Pickerington, and Reynoldsburg. The latter of those actually has two physically separate campuses but is considered as one high school for athletic and some other purposes).
 
@Treviscraft10
5 miles to the Canfield Administrative Building/Jr High/Middle School
5½ to the high school
As an aside school consolidations was a major topic on Ron Verb's program today and was a major topic on Dan Rivers' program last year.
I think someone mentioned that the inherent problem is the government wasting money and also schools wasting money and wanting things they don't need.
And then there is the unlimited funding for the library and buses that always comes up and rightly so...
 
SBClives said:
Bucyrus and Wynford. Very small town with two schools. Bucyrus school district is a small dot in between the Wynford and Colonel Crawford districts. Bucyrus would easily just dissolve into both of those districts.
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If there were no open enrollment Bucyrus would probably be something like a D4 size school with a compact district. The city itself has like 12,000 people and is bigger than Upper Sandusky, Galion, and Shelby.
 
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