| Clay Local School District | |
|---|---|
| "The District that Encourages the Child to Discover" [1]
"Cognitiones Artes Habitus Virtutes" [2]
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| Location | |
| 44 Clay High Street | |
| Information | |
| Type | (Ohio) public, rural, school district |
| Established | 1940 |
| Principal | W. Todd Warnock, Clay High School Principal
Terri Boldman, CHS Asst. Prin. Tony Piguet, Elementary Principal |
| Head of school | Anthony Mantell, Superintendent |
| Faculty | 40 [3] |
| Grades | K-12 |
| Number of students | 600 (as of 2006[update]) [3] |
| Color(s) | Royal Blue█ and Gold █ [4] |
| Athletics | baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, boys' golf, boys' soccer, fast pitch softball, boys' tennis, and girls' volleyball [4] |
| Athletics conference | Southern Ohio Conference - Division I [4] |
| Mascot | Panthers [4] |
| Website | Clay Local School District |
The Clay Local School District (CLSD) is located four miles (6 km) north of the Portsmouth, Ohio, city limits on U.S. Route 23 in Clay Township in Scioto County--which is 85 miles (137 km) south of Columbus, Ohio; 50 miles (80 km) west of Huntington, West Virginia; and 100 miles (160 km) east of Cincinnati, Ohio. Clay is a rural, Ohio, public school district serving 600 students in grades pre k-12 in Southern Ohio. With the creation of a high school (Clay Township High School) for the district in 1940, students for the first time were able to graduate from a Clay Local School District building.[5]
Clay Junior-Senior High School is one of three buildings currently being used in the district. Rubyville Elementary School (4-6), which is on Maple Benner Road at the intersection of State Route 139, and Rosemount Primary School (K-3), which is on Rose Valley Road just off Rosemount Road in Rosemount, Ohio, are the other two buildings.[3]
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The enrollment for Clay Local School District, K-12, is 600 with 300 students in the elementary grades (K-6) and 300 students in grades seven through twelve. The district's mascot is the black panther while the district's colors are royal blue and gold. Ninety-six (96.22) percent of the students that attend the district are white. The other four percent are Hispanic (1.15), African American (.82), multiracial (.82), Asian (.66), or American Indian (.33).[6] The district covers 22.12 square miles (57.3 km2). There are forty full time faculty members serving the 600 students. The athletes compete in the small division in every Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) sport. The school competes with ten (10) sports teams at the high school level and three at the junior high level. The school district belongs to the OHSAA and to the Southern Ohio Conference-Division I.[4]
The district received communication from the Ohio School Facilities Commission on May 3, 2007, that the district had been approved for the state funds. After new Ohio legislation allowing the district to proceed, a bond issue was placed on the March 2008 ballot to build a new preK-12 facility.[7] The ballot issue passed and the district is in the process of building a new facility. The actual groundbreaking is expected in the Spring of 2009.[8]
The Clay Local School District was created in 1940 to serve the residents of Clay Township and the individual communities of Eden Park, Rosemount, Rubyville, and Twin Valley. For those students who desired to go on to high school before the opening of the high school in 1940, the board of education provided their tuition to Glenwood High School or to Portsmouth High School.[5] "There were buses to transport students to and from school, but there was no cafeteria, therefore, students brought their lunches."[10] The first graduating class in 1940 was nicknamed the "Dirty Dozen" because there were twelve students that walked across the stage for the first time as Clay graduates.[5]
The district began with four buildings—one high school and three elementary schools. There were two buildings in Rubyville—the current elementary building, which served as the high school from 1940–1956, and an elementary building (originally Sumers, later renamed Long Run School), which is now a local church. The district also had an elementary building in Eden Park, which still stands but is no longer used by the district, and one in Rosemount (Scioto Trail School), which was located on the current site of JW Village Market.[5]
In 1956, the Rubyville building (built in 1939) became the elementary building. With a bond issue to raise $325,000 (along with matching funds for a total cost of nearly $600,000) a new high school building, which opened its doors on February 1, 1956, was built on Clay High Street. Mr. Carl Bandy was the Executive Head of the Clay (Rural) Local School District when the high school was built in 1955. At that time, the enrollment of the district was 719. One year later, it was 915. During the period of peak employment at the Atomic Plant in Piketon (now U.S.E.C.), the enrollment was 1100. A new elementary building was then built in Rosemount (Rosemount Primary, built in 1964).[5]
The district currently uses these same three buildings. In 1964 the Rosemount building was constructed, and a band room and junior high wing were added to the high school. In 1998 an additional "wing" was built on to the high school structure. Additional upgrades and renovations have occurred to all three buildings over the years including improvements to the high school gym, new science laboratories, renovations to all the restroom facilities, new roofs, and air conditioning for all three buildings.[11] The enrollment for the district is currently 600.[6]
44 Clay High Street, Portsmouth, OH 45662
740.354.6645 / 740.354.5746 (fax)
Board of Education Administration
44 Clay High Street, Portsmouth, OH 45662
740.354.6644 / 740.354.5746 (fax) CHS Staff Directory
3019 Maple Benner Road, Portsmouth, OH 45662
740.353.0272 / 740.353.6620 (fax)
4484 Rose Valley Road, Portsmouth, OH 45662
740.353.0428 / 740.354.3822 (fax)
Academically, Clay has a reputation as one of the better schools in Southern Ohio. The latest Ohio Department of Education report card indicated CHS met the graduation, AYP (average yearly progress), and attendance percentages/rates.[12]
The school year is divided into two semesters for grading and course scheduling purposes, with a three-day finals schedule at the end of the year (see Academic term). The majority of the courses offered are year-long courses, but students have the opportunity to take a few courses on a semester basis. Although the school meets on a 41-minute, nine-period schedule in which students attend each class daily, two days a month operate on an activity schedule. This 30-minute time period on these days are set aside to allow for curricular and extracurricular clubs to meet that would not otherwise fit into either the regular school day or after school because of scheduling.[13]
While student enrollment (300)[3] and class sizes are small (17:1),[6] Clay offers many opportunities for its students including both curricular and extracurricular activities. These academic opportunities include, but are not limited to, AP courses, Art I-IV, band, Chemistry I & II, chorus, computer applications, pre-engineering courses, economics, industrial arts, physics, Spanish I-IV, and web page design.[14]
Recent graduates of CHS have attended/graduated from such universities/colleges as Berea College, Cornell University, Eastern Kentucky University, Marshall University, Miami University, Morehead State University, Ohio University, Ohio Northern University, Purdue University, Shawnee State University, The Ohio State University, Transylvania University, University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, Valparaiso University, St. Bonaventure University, University of Dayton, West Point, Wittenberg University, and Wright State University. Clay's graduating classes, which average about 35 students, have received in excess of $300,000 each year in scholarship money.[3] The 2007 Clay graduating class was offered close to $450,000 in scholarships.[15]
Likewise, the CHS staff members have also attended/graduated from many of these same institutions. The CHS staff members have an average of 16 years of educational experience.[6]
Rubyville Elementary School is one of two elementary schools in the Clay Local School District. Rubyville Elementary (a.k.a. Rubyville) serves students in grades four through six. The building is located on Maple Benner Road at the intersection of Ohio State Route 139 in Scioto County.
Rosemount Primary School is the other elementary building in the district. It is located on Rose Valley Road in Rosemount, Ohio. It was built in 1964.[5]
Clay Junior-Senior High School is a "small division" school in every Ohio High School Athletic Association sports' division. The school participates in ten OHSAA sanctioned sports - baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, boys' golf, boys' soccer, girls' fast pitch softball, boys' tennis, and girls' volleyball. The district also fields boys' and girls' basketball and volleyball teams in our junior high. The district also has baseball, golf, and softball as sports at the junior high level even though these teams are not recognized as official school teams.[4]
There are ten school districts and eleven high schools in Scioto County along with one parochial school as well several private and community schools.[21] The school's athletic affiliation is with the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) and the Southern Ohio Conference (SOC), which has sixteen member schools and is divided into two divisions (SOC I & SOC II) based on the schools' enrollment. The SOC includes teams from four different Ohio counties[22]:
See also Ohio High School Athletic Conferences and the Southern Ohio Conference
In athletics, the Clay softball team has won three OHSAA State Championships—1980, 1981, & 1983.[23][24] The team was 79-1 in those three years under the direction of Carol Vice, a member of the Clay Coaches' Hall of Fame.[25] In 1979 and 1988, the softball team was runner-up.[23][24] The softball team has won 23 league titles, 29 sectional titles, 21 district titles, and ten regional titles along with three state championship banners.[26] The softball team is the only team from Scioto County ever to win a state championship. In fact, the team was in the Final Four in nine out of the 11 years from 1978 to 1988.[23][24] Carol and Clay Vice have their names/stars on the Portsmouth Wall of Fame in honor of their success and contributions to the Portsmouth area.[27]
The boys' basketball team made it to the OHSAA Final Four in 1969 under the direction of Arch Justus, who is also a member of the Clay Coaches' Hall of Fame[25] and the Ohio Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.[28] The team has also won 14 league titles (most recently in 2004-5), 23 sectional titles, three district titles, and one regional title.[26]
The girls' basketball team went to the OHSAA Final Four in 1980. The team is still the only girls' Scioto County team and one of only two in the Southern Ohio Conference (Oak Hill being the other one) to reach that level. Terri Boldman, a member of the Clay Coaches' Hall of Fame[25] and current high school assistant principal, guided the girls to the OHSAA Final Four. The girls' basketball team has won three league titles (1980, 2005, & 2006), 13 sectional titles, two district titles, and one regional title.[26]
While these three sports may have garnered the spotlight in years past, Clay teams have won numerous league, sectional, district, regional, and state titles. The boys' baseball team won the Regional title in 1944 and has also captured 21 conference titles, 8 sectional titles, and 5 district titles. The volleyball team has won seven league titles, 15 sectional titles, four district titles, and went to the regional tournament as recently as 2007. Most recently, the golf team won its ninth straight league title. The team qualified for the state championships for three straight years between 2004 & 2006.[29][30][31] The tennis team captured its first SOC title in 2005 and won it again in 2007 and 2008. In addition, the soccer team has won two league title and three sectional titles.[26]
Clay High
Three Cheers for old Clay High
Clay High
Clay High
For you we'll do or die!
Our hearts so true
We give to gold and blue
And so we pledge
The Best We Have to you
P-A-N-T-H-E-R-S
While many of the alumni, coaches, faculty, and staff listed below have not gained notable recognition abroad, all of these individuals are well-known figures in the Portsmouth and surrounding areas and they have made considerable contributions to the Clay Local School District, to the educational field, to the sports' teams they coached, and to the athletes and students.[37]
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