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Ohio to Have Fewer Than 88 Counties??

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j_crazy's avatar

j_crazy

7 gram rocks. how i roll.

8,372 posts
May 19, 2011 12:55 PM
excellent idea.
May 19, 2011 12:55pm
LJ's avatar

LJ

Senior Member

16,351 posts
May 19, 2011 12:58 PM
Interesting idea.... It would definitley be a balancing act between area and population.
May 19, 2011 12:58pm
B

Bigdogg

Senior Member

1,429 posts
May 19, 2011 1:32 PM
Why stop there? Lets look at consolidating city's and county's like they do in Indiana also. County counsels of government. The concept has been around a long time. Local control has always been the problem.
May 19, 2011 1:32pm
LJ's avatar

LJ

Senior Member

16,351 posts
May 19, 2011 1:36 PM
I think consolidating school districts is a great idea that needs to happen as well. There is no reason to have 4 supers over 4 districts with a total of 1500 kids.
May 19, 2011 1:36pm
Skyhook79's avatar

Skyhook79

Senior Member

5,739 posts
May 19, 2011 1:48 PM
They should consolidate Brown,Adams and Highland County together. Would only be about 150,000 population wise.
May 19, 2011 1:48pm
Apple's avatar

Apple

Prost!

2,620 posts
May 19, 2011 2:02 PM
Skyhook79;773936 wrote:They should consolidate Brown,Adams and Highland County together. Would only be about 150,000 population wise.
Bradland County?
May 19, 2011 2:02pm
Tobias Fünke's avatar

Tobias Fünke

formerly "sjmvsfscs08"

2,387 posts
May 19, 2011 2:11 PM
I would be down for consolidating Ottawa and Sandusky counties. There is a already a school district shared between the two, Woodmore.

You could probably merge Genoa and Woodmore, Port Clinton and Danbury, etc. Danbury doesn't have enough kids to field many sports teams, but they aren't poor as a district because of the real estate value of the cottages for people who only live up here in the summer (and don't send kids to the school, so they have more money per pupil).

Ottawa is 40,000 and Sandusky is 60,000.
May 19, 2011 2:11pm
W

WebFire

Go Bucks!

14,779 posts
May 19, 2011 2:15 PM
LJ;773924 wrote:I think consolidating school districts is a great idea that needs to happen as well. There is no reason to have 4 supers over 4 districts with a total of 1500 kids.

Agree 100%.
May 19, 2011 2:15pm
ts1227's avatar

ts1227

Senior Member

12,319 posts
May 19, 2011 2:20 PM
LJ;773924 wrote:I think consolidating school districts is a great idea that needs to happen as well. There is no reason to have 4 supers over 4 districts with a total of 1500 kids.

This. My county has 11 districts (plus 2 in other counties that spill over) and we only have 100,000 people in the county. All but 3 of the districts are d5 or smaller, in football terms ( the other 3 are d3) Needs to come down to like 4-5. It has been mentioned but everyone is too afraid to rock the boat.
May 19, 2011 2:20pm
ernest_t_bass's avatar

ernest_t_bass

12th Son of the Lama

24,984 posts
May 19, 2011 2:25 PM
ts1227;773977 wrote:This. My county has 11 districts (plus 2 in other counties that spill over) and we only have 100,000 people in the county. All but 3 of the districts are d5 or smaller, in football terms ( the other 3 are d3) Needs to come down to like 4-5. It has been mentioned but everyone is too afraid to rock the boat.

Go no further than Putnam County to find schools that need to be consolidated! Also Darke/Mercer. Fort Loramie, New Bremen, Minster... all those schools are nearly right on top of each other.

One major thing that will get brought up though (besides community support and tradition) is cost of bussing.
May 19, 2011 2:25pm
ts1227's avatar

ts1227

Senior Member

12,319 posts
May 19, 2011 2:26 PM
ernest_t_bass;773990 wrote:Go no further than Putnam County to find schools that need to be consolidated! Also Darke/Mercer. Fort Loramie, New Bremen, Minster... all those schools are nearly right on top of each other.

One major thing that will get brought up though (besides community support and tradition) is cost of bussing.

One way to avoid that is to leave the school structuring (nearly) the same and consolidate administrations.
May 19, 2011 2:26pm
W

wkfan

Senior Member

1,641 posts
May 19, 2011 2:26 PM
Awesome!!!

Are we giving Toledo back to Michigan??????
May 19, 2011 2:26pm
ernest_t_bass's avatar

ernest_t_bass

12th Son of the Lama

24,984 posts
May 19, 2011 3:09 PM
ts1227;773993 wrote:One way to avoid that is to leave the school structuring (nearly) the same and consolidate administrations.

A good idea! At least at the district level (Supers). What would you do at the building level (Principals?)
May 19, 2011 3:09pm
W

WebFire

Go Bucks!

14,779 posts
May 19, 2011 3:14 PM
ernest_t_bass;774071 wrote:A good idea! At least at the district level (Supers). What would you do at the building level (Principals?)

I would imagine each would have to have a building principal. But one super, one treasurer, one transportation director, one Tech Coordinator (with a staff depending on district size), one school board, etc. What else could be consolidated?
May 19, 2011 3:14pm
LJ's avatar

LJ

Senior Member

16,351 posts
May 19, 2011 3:19 PM
ernest_t_bass;774071 wrote:A good idea! At least at the district level (Supers). What would you do at the building level (Principals?)

District level would have 1 employee for each position but then your school level would be the same. It would save hundreds of thousands of dollars.
May 19, 2011 3:19pm
A

Al Bundy

Senior Member

4,180 posts
May 19, 2011 5:31 PM
WebFire;774080 wrote:I would imagine each would have to have a building principal. But one super, one treasurer, one transportation director, one Tech Coordinator (with a staff depending on district size), one school board, etc. What else could be consolidated?

Depending upon how many schools are consolidated, you could have a full time athletic director who handles the administrative end of the job and site managers who are on campus for athletic events that are hosted. The site managers would be part time supplements.
May 19, 2011 5:31pm
S

Sonofanump

May 19, 2011 5:46 PM
Ohio missed the boat on this big time a few years ago. I asked then why they did not force school and government consolidation when they had all this excess tobacco settlement money they “had” to spend on buildings. Instead they selected a district here and a district there to build a new building for leaving a fine building with cause. SMH.

I for see libraries being next. One library for the small counties (if they still exist)

Question? Courthouses are designed to handle a certain caseload, are we going to assign new county seats with a new courthouse or would they just select one of the courthouses and add on (if possible, most are landlocked) to that courthouse?
May 19, 2011 5:46pm
majorspark's avatar

majorspark

Senior Member

5,122 posts
May 19, 2011 6:00 PM
You would not be limited to combining counties and keeping their current borders. You could eliminate a county and split it between neighboring counties. This would help with the geographical and population issues.
May 19, 2011 6:00pm
Cat Food Flambe''s avatar

Cat Food Flambe'

Senior Member

1,230 posts
May 19, 2011 8:46 PM
Weren't counties originally sized to allow everyone to travel to the county seat and back in one day in a buggy?

Skyhook - you'd be pushing to get much past 100,000 in a combined Adams/Brown/Highland. We could call it Deliverance County!!!
May 19, 2011 8:46pm
gerb131's avatar

gerb131

Senior Member

9,932 posts
May 19, 2011 8:47 PM
LJ;773924 wrote:I think consolidating school districts is a great idea that needs to happen as well. There is no reason to have 4 supers over 4 districts with a total of 1500 kids.

Xactly
May 19, 2011 8:47pm
B

bigkahuna

Senior Member

4,454 posts
May 19, 2011 10:15 PM
ernest_t_bass;773990 wrote:Go no further than Putnam County to find schools that need to be consolidated! Also Darke/Mercer. Fort Loramie, New Bremen, Minster... all those schools are nearly right on top of each other.

One major thing that will get brought up though (besides community support and tradition) is cost of bussing.

How about New Knoxville? I'd say probably 400 kids in K-12 (I think the average class size is 30-40). That could easily be distributed into St. Marys, New Bremen...

There are several of these 1 building for K-12 with the similar amount of students. If they'd consolidate, it'd save them money. I have a buddy that teaches for Arcadia, and he said there's always a rumor of Arcadia merging with Vanlue/and/or Fostoria.and/or Findlay
May 19, 2011 10:15pm
Little Danny's avatar

Little Danny

Senior Member

4,288 posts
May 19, 2011 10:48 PM
Sonofanump;774229 wrote:Ohio missed the boat on this big time a few years ago. I asked then why they did not force school and government consolidation when they had all this excess tobacco settlement money they “had” to spend on buildings. Instead they selected a district here and a district there to build a new building for leaving a fine building with cause. SMH.

I for see libraries being next. One library for the small counties (if they still exist)

Question? Courthouses are designed to handle a certain caseload, are we going to assign new county seats with a new courthouse or would they just select one of the courthouses and add on (if possible, most are landlocked) to that courthouse?
I have been to every court house in the state of Ohio. Ohio could easily do what Indiana and many other states do and adopt circuit courts. The circuit covers a multi county region. Here in Ohio, we have some Common Pleas judges who are literally sitting around twiddling their thumbs. There was a particular judge I came across a few weeks ago that has been presiding on the bench for nearly two years and has yet to preside over one civil trial. Alternatively, we have judges in other venues whose dockets are so back logged they can't even get to all of the cases. They are just trying to keep their head above water. Circuit Courts would spread the case loads around to ensure matters are being heard in a timely and just manner. What's more, it is much more efficient use of tax payer dollars and just the right thing to do.
May 19, 2011 10:48pm
GOONx19's avatar

GOONx19

An exceptional poster.

7,147 posts
May 20, 2011 1:26 AM
ts1227;773977 wrote:This. My county has 11 districts (plus 2 in other counties that spill over) and we only have 100,000 people in the county. All but 3 of the districts are d5 or smaller, in football terms ( the other 3 are d3) Needs to come down to like 4-5. It has been mentioned but everyone is too afraid to rock the boat.

My county has 24 public schools with an average enrollment of 537 students. Only 4 have more than 700 kids.
May 20, 2011 1:26am
se-alum's avatar

se-alum

The Biggest Boss

13,948 posts
May 20, 2011 8:08 AM
Ross County could logisitcally consolidate from 6 county schools to 3. Then you would still have the city school by itself.
May 20, 2011 8:08am