Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington Board of Education members Daniel Oberschlake and Glenda Huff look on as RULH Superintendent James Wilkins goes over the research conducted on the repurposing of the RULH Middle School building in Aberdeen. Photo by Wade Linville
Fifth through eighth grade students to be relocated to school buildings in Ripley
The Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington Board of Education voted in favor of repurposing the RULH Middle School building located in Aberdeen for the 2023-24 school year during the board’s regularly scheduled meeting held March 16 at the RULH High School.
The vote was unanimous, all board members approving the recommendation by RULH Superintendent James Wilkins to change the use of the middle school building, which includes relocating students to other school buildings located in Ripley.
Fifth and sixth grade students who were attending the RULH Middle School will attend the RULH Elementary School, while the seventh and eighth grade students will attend the RULH High School.
The RULH Board of Education held a special meeting on March 8 at the RULH Middle School in Aberdeen with Wilkins and RULH Treasurer Zoie Garrett providing information on what will change among students and staff with the repurposing of the middle school, the research that was conducted into the repurposing of the middle school, and the benefits for the school district with the repurposing of the middle school.
What followed during the March 8 special meeting was a public comment session in which each member of the public who signed a sheet could ask questions and/or voice their opinions regarding the repurposing of the middle school. Each person signing the list was given three minutes to speak. There were around 70 members of the general public at the meeting, but only about a handful stepped to the podium to voice their concerns or ask questions.
“You hate to see things start spiraling down in a community,” Aberdeen resident Bill Asbury said during the public comment session of the March 8 meeting. “Hopefully, good things will come out of all of this.”
Prior to voting in favor of the repurposing of the middle school building during the March 16 meeting, board members were met with little opposition from the public with only one person, Aberdeen resident Tonya Henry, speaking out against the repurposing of the middle school building.
Henry felt more research needed to be conducted before making a decision to repurpose the school building in Aberdeen.
“It’s a financial move, but is it really in the best interest of our kids?” Henry asked.
“I am asking the board to vote no,” said Henry.
The RULH School District requested an audit from the state well before the board of education made the decision.
According to a performance audit conducted by the Ohio Auditor of State in 2021, the RULH High School and RULH Elementary School have both been operating at under 50 percent of their total capacity with 47.5 percent of the elementary school being utilized and only 45.3 percent of the high school being utilized.
In regards to reconfiguring education facilities, the audit stated as a recommendation to “Consider reconfiguring District educational facilities to better reflect the current enrollment demand. In doing so, the District could save $113,400 in facilities operating costs and progress toward structural balance within their year-over-year budget.”
The money in operating costs that could be saved annually after repurposing the middle school could better align the school district with industry benchmarks for building capacity, according to the audit conducted.
The RULH School District’s projected five year financial forecast shows that the school district’s finances well into the “red” by 2026 if a change was not made with the use of the middle school building.
According to the recent Projected Five Year Forecast provided by Garrett, the school district would $1,403,055 in the negative in fiscal year 2026 and $3,759,437 in the negative for fiscal year 2027 if the current use of the middle school continues.
When comparing RULH finances over the past year, the general fund cash balance has reduced by approximately $1 million in one year, according to information provided by Garrett.
With the repurposing of the middle school, Garrett’s Projected Five Year Forecast shows that the school district would be in the positive for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 ($41,287).
Research was also conducted on other school districts, including enrollment and building usage.
When comparing the 2021-22 report card for other school districts in Brown and surrounding counties, school districts with higher ADM enrollment numbers operate with only two school buildings including: North Adams (1,154), Peebles (940), West Union (1,129), Georgetown (991), Manchester (695), Bright Local (702), and Felicity-Franklin (699).
Looking at enrollment numbers based on Average Daily Membership (students in school buildings during the day), the RULH School District currently has 777 students with around 60 of those attending career and technical center programs.
There are currently 231 students enrolled at the RULH Middle School based on ADM enrollment information that was provided.
When plans were underway for the construction of the new RULH Middle School 20 years ago, enrollment at RULH was at 1,377.
The repurposing of the middle school will result in an annual savings of approximately $1.1 million in staffing due to staff reductions, according to Wilkins.
RULH Board of Education member Glenda Huff thanked Garrett and Wilkins for all of the work they put into researching what could be done to help with the school financial issues after Garrett brought to the board’s attention the financial problems the school district was facing while operating three school buildings, all operating at less than 50 percent capacity. Huff also thanked Garrett and Wilkins for providing notice to the public of the repurposing.
“I think, financially, it is in the best interest of our school district to do that,” Huff said of the repurposing of the middle school.
The school district looks to limit the loss of employment as much as possible in the repurposing of the middle school.
“We have five or six retirements and several open positions we haven’t filled, so the amount of people losing their job right now looks to be five or six people – one administrator, one classified worker, and four teachers,” said Wilkins.
Plans are for the middle school in Aberdeen to be the new home of the Wasserman Blue Jay Program.
Wasserman is for school-age children with significant emotional needs that cannot be maintained in regular school settings. The program is a therapeutic environment with an academic component.
The Wasserman is operated by Child Focus, Inc. The CCESC partners with Child Focus, Inc. and local school districts to place teachers, paraprofessionals, and related service personnel to meet the specific academic needs of students served therein.
The Wasserman program at RULH accepts students from other school districts which could potentially be a source of income for the RULH School District while students in the RULH School District would be able to attend Wasserman free of charge, according to Wilkins.
“The primary reasons are the decrease in enrollment and the finances that are related to that. No one wants to close the school. We’re not doing that. We want to repurpose our school so it’s still vibrant and alive. We hope to have, within three or four years, 50 to 100 children there (Wasserman) who are getting the help that they need and we will also partner with other schools to send kids there,” Wilkins said of the repurposing of the middle school.
“We have a lot of kids who need assistance with mental health,” he added. “We also have kids who are ‘at-risk’ who can be helped.”
Wilkins said the RULH School District would maintain use of the middle school gymnasium and outdoor facilities around the middle school building. The gymnasium would still be used for sports practices such as junior high basketball and for hosting events.