Consolidation Topic

[biggdowgg]

Guys something has to be done. Consolidation will enable the districts to offer more academic classes. Streamline costs. Yes athletics will take a hit at first. Does Scioto County really need twelve high schools?

No they dont.....Portsmouth and Glenwood should consolidate.

Clay and New Boston are building new schools. At least New Boston was supposed to if they settled on a piece of land.

Just throwing it out there, but maybe that is part of the reason Portsmouth gets shot down for SOC entry. If they consolidate those schools, Portsmouth would be huge playing in a small school conference.

no way this has anything to o with Portsmouth and the soc, Portsmouth has been getting shot down for many years,,even befor anyone built new schools...

and New Bosto has their site, they are working on it now..the old swimming pool area is where the new boston school will be.

[Malcontent]

I went to see a friend of mine in a Christmas Program at Ironton Elementary and there were 84 kids in the 4th grade. If half were boys and I think that more than half were girls but lets say half were boys. Multiply that by 3 and that would be 126 boys for three grades, Hummm Division 6.

[Westfan]

and New Bosto has their site, they are working on it now..the old swimming pool area is where the new boston school will be.

I thought I read on here where they decided to build near the old wal mart because the area around the pool is a known flood zone..

This is what the radio said a while back.

[Baz55]

Yeah Darius Lewis did play at green. I played with him on A team football. Then i transferred to CG.

[biggdowgg]

and New Bosto has their site, they are working on it now..the old swimming pool area is where the new boston school will be.

I thought I read on here where they decided to build near the old wal mart because the area around the pool is a known flood zone..

they did talk about it, but went with the pool location, they have already started the constrution on the land by the pool,they are removing a lot of the hill side from behind the pool , and the stadium

[biggdowgg]

I am not sure if the funding has been totaly approved for the new school yet,I do know that is the site they decided on, and are working on it now.

[Mercerville Monster]

Ask anyone in Gallia county what they think of consolidation! It is awful!!!!! Thank God we only had to suffer through 6 years of it and then someone woke up and realized it was not going to work.

[vladimir]

This was bound to happen soon or later. The state of Ohio cannot afford to fund the costs of the smaller schools, and if they do not pass levies then where is the $ going to come from? I think Green/ Wheelersburg, and the Minford/South Webster/Eastern is a great idea. Most kids that want to play football from S. Webster and Eastern are going to Minford anyway.

What about Sciotoville East? I know a few years ago it was in the works to get them with PHS but it didn't pan out. Why didn't it? New Boston to PHS is a good idea and Clay to Valley makes sense too.

Northwest is a D-4 school so I think they'll stay.

[2trap_4ever]

I know of people who have talked for years about their being an East Lawrence County and West Lawrence County high school. Looks like the state is starting the process in Scioto County first.

[eccedomusscientiae]

I would think that IF the State stepped in, they would have to have a plan for more than two schools. The green High School property would most likely be sold and the State would need to find an appropriate location to build a new consolidated High School. One would think that East, Burg and green would be consolidated into one school. Maybe the property off of US52 and Gallia Pike would accomodate a new school. The new schools at Burg could become middle school and elementary.
The State would then probably discover all of those Terry's that are on the books as "Sherry's" at Burg. LOL, just joking about Burg being ike the only school in southern ohio with more girls than boys. that was a joke too.

[bilco 2]

if green shuts down a lot of the athletes i think would go to rock hill. the line for rockhill is only a few miles from green anyway. I think that would be a better fit, rock hill is divIV, so it would help them in sports more than the burg, who would have to stepup a div.

[28Buck]

So what is going to happen to all these new multi-million dollar schools that have been built within the last decade ie. Minford,South Webster,Valley,Wheelersburg etc. I could see Green and Burg combining. East could go to either Minford or Burg. South Webster and Minford I'm not so sure about. Both have schools <10 years old.

[maintenanceman]

Something to keep in mind is that East has no school district. Almost a decade (maybe more) ago Portsmouth City Schools wisely decided to consolidate. The Sciotoville Community banded together to create a community school (a charter school). It would be really hard to consolidate a school with no district.

That being said, I am a fervent supporter of consolidation. As much as I love athletics and the community spirit created by these schools, they don't matter. To be blunt, the small school districts put our kids at a disadvantage from the beginning. Kids in Scioto County do not have access to the higher level of classes and competition that kids in larger cities see. I know this all too well having grown up in Scioto County and leaving the state to go to college. Though it was ultimately a great experience, I was at a disadvantage because of where I had been born.

Currently, I live in Evanston Illinois. Evanston is the closest suburb to Chicago (shares a border) and has a population of 75,000. Scioto County has a population of 75,000. Evanston has 1 school. Scioto County has 10 public schools. Evanston Township High School is a big school but it produces many successful students and athletic programs.

One school for Scioto County would be a great idea, but maybe not the most practical application. Instead, the county could (and should) be divided into 2 or 3 schools. Let Portsmouth maintain its school (with an expanded district) and then have a school for the rural areas. Or, divide the county into east and west or north and south. More money, better academics, better athletics, more competition.

[Westfan]

Maybe I'm missing something, but how would a D1 school create a better education than a small school? Classes would have to be larger, much larger. Would be like taking a core class at Ohio State where the Instructor has to use a microphone. Absolutely no one-on-one. Kids are scared to ask a question.

Then athletically, you have tons of good athletes that either won't see the field or won't play because they know they won't. Go to a Colarain or St. Xavier game where they dress 80. They have guys that don't play who would start for any team in our county. What about basketball where they dress 12 and most have an 8 man rotation? I just don't see how this is a good thing for kids.

The other thing is money. To have a public school you have to bus? Is driving all-over the county saving money in diesel fuel? At what point does that overcome the upkeep on a school? Right know you have kids out in the county who ride the bus for an hour every day. What would it be with consolidation?

[maintenanceman]

You seem to have a very strange view of how all of this would work. Why would classes need to be bigger? Consolidation wouldn't put two schools together and only use the staff from one of those schools. Of course, some teachers would lose jobs, but the hope would be that the best teachers get to keep doing there thing.

Busing would be a different issue, but the busing budget would be increased. Once again, you aren't joining two or more schools together and using the budget of only one of those schools.

I love sports, but to be honest I couldn't care less about who gets to play and who doesn't. What is most important is that the levels of academics at the school are increased.

[Westfan]

Ok, so some teachers do loose jobs. So no matter how the schools are combined, the teacher to student ratio would decrease. So how does lumping them all in one building instead of two make a better education?

And remember teachers are union. The best teachers don't necessarily work. The most senior ones do.

[fbnut]

Something to keep in mind is that East has no school district. Almost a decade (maybe more) ago Portsmouth City Schools wisely decided to consolidate. The Sciotoville Community banded together to create a community school (a charter school). It would be really hard to consolidate a school with no district.

That being said, I am a fervent supporter of consolidation. As much as I love athletics and the community spirit created by these schools, they don't matter. To be blunt, the small school districts put our kids at a disadvantage from the beginning. Kids in Scioto County do not have access to the higher level of classes and competition that kids in larger cities see. I know this all too well having grown up in Scioto County and leaving the state to go to college. Though it was ultimately a great experience, I was at a disadvantage because of where I had been born.

Currently, I live in Evanston Illinois. Evanston is the closest suburb to Chicago (shares a border) and has a population of 75,000. Scioto County has a population of 75,000. Evanston has 1 school. Scioto County has 10 public schools. Evanston Township High School is a big school but it produces many successful students and athletic programs.

One school for Scioto County would be a great idea, but maybe not the most practical application. Instead, the county could (and should) be divided into 2 or 3 schools. Let Portsmouth maintain its school (with an expanded district) and then have a school for the rural areas. Or, divide the county into east and west or north and south. More money, better academics, better athletics, more competition.

I don't think I totally agree that athletics and community spirit don't really matter. I think sometimes we overemphasize how important they are but they do have a influence on who we are as adults. Kids in this area may be at a disadvantage in some areas but I think they have advantages in other areas. There have been many successful people that I went to school that went away to major universities in big cities and many stayed there until they started families. When they started families many moved back to scioto co to raise their kids the same way they were raised.

[wipala]

Just a question...Is anyone on this blog from Northwest? I remember when I was in school that Northwest was not around and we had Otway, Rarden and I can not remember the other school..I ma wondering how the combining of those schools into Northwest went as far as academics? I was around when Portsmouth first went to Junior High and I was at Wilson and we had to merge with Grant, Massie and Scudder..that actually went very well..I know I am talking about 7,8 and 9th grade and not moving a great distance to go to school...How about it Northwest,,,you are a great example of combing....wipalawalt

[Rebelcat]

The state can force a consolidation of a district from what I understand. In the mid 1970s the Gallia County had 5 different schools districts. They were Gallipolis City, Hannan Trace, Southwestern, Kyger Creek and North Gallia. Because Kyger Creek was a small school district with a huge tax base (Kyger Creek and Gavin power plants) the state pulled the of the county schools charters and forced Kyger Creek to consolidate into the Gallia County Local School District. Now the county only has two districts. Instead of having 4 school boards for each of the small high schools it was merged into one Gallia County Local School Board. The district operated 4 high schools for almost 20 years until it was forced to give up 30% (I think that's the number) of it power plant tax base to other districts in which transmission lines passed through. It crippled the district financially and forced the school board to consolidate the 4 high schools into the old Kyger Creek building and rename it River Valley. After the district emerged from the state loan fund, it decided to reopen the old Hannan Trace building as South Gallia. From what I understand, the state can force a merger of districts but it's the local board of education that will decide what schools to operate unless once again you want state matching funds for a new high school. As many know Gallia County Local just opened new high schools for South Gallia and River Valley. The district could have waited to come up on the state matching funds list but if they did they had already been told they would have to once again consolidate South Gallia and River Valley. Because the district has such a large tax base with the two power plants, the board of education passed on the states money and the district passed a levy only using local tax dollars. That has been Gallia County's experience when it comes to consolidation in name only, to actual consolidation of the 4 high schools, then to de-consolidation from one high school to two high schools. It's confusing I know. The lesson is if you take the state matching funds or are in the state loan fund, you will have to play by there rules. I am sure we will face the consolidation discussion again in the future but it will be in the distant future. Because of the geography of the two districts in Gallia County, another consolidation will only work if it involves the city district.

We were very lucky at South Gallia on how consolidation affected our school. While a lot of us old timers do miss Hannan Trace, we also recognize we were able to get all the benefits of consolidation (new high school/junior high and other new facilties, ect) and come out of it with an enrollment maybe 20-25% larger than the old Hannan Trace. The biggest pain has been finding a conference with similar size schools. The SOC turned us down I think a million times and thank goodness the TVC welcomed us in despite our distance from several of the schools.

[yabbadabbadoo]

Will they be called the WheelerFranklin Pircats