Vicki Asbury, retired RULH teacher and Aberdeen resident, addresses the RULH Board of Education during a special meeting on the possible repurposing of the middle school in Aberdeen on March 8. Photo by Wade Linville
Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington Superintendent James Wilkins speaks on the possible repurposing of the middle school building in Aberdeen during the RULH Board of Education special meeting held March 8. Photo by Wade Linville
The Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington Board of Education held a special meeting at the RULH Middle School in Aberdeen on March 8 in regards to the repurposing of the middle school.
RULH recently began looking into the repurposing of the middle school in Aberdeen after seeing a significant drop in enrollment in recent years that has had a negative impact on the school district’s finances.
According to RULH Superintendent James Wilkins, the repurposing of the middle school will result in an annual savings of approximately $1.1 million in staffing due to staff reductions.
Each member of the public who signed the list to speak publicly during the March 8 special meeting was given three minutes each to ask questions and/or voice their opinions regarding the possible repurposing of the middle school.
“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.”
The timing is right for the school district to change the use of the middle school in Aberdeen when it comes to limiting the loss of employment, according to Wilkins.
“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, who took over as RULH superintendent in 2017.
“By repurposing the middle school this year, staff reductions would be reduced substantially due to retirements and not filling currently vacant positions. Coincidentally, right now, the pain that would be inflicted on people losing their jobs is minimized by the timing of this,” said Wilkins.
RULH is not the only school district in Brown County to see a drop in enrollment in recent years.
Enrollment at Brown County public schools combined has dropped more than 25 percent since the 2003-04 school year, according to information provided by Wilkins.
“It’s not just Ripley that’s been impacted by this,” Wilkins said of the drop in enrollment in recent years.
“Those numbers that have decreased so drastically have dictated why we have to go over the options we have for our schools,” said Wilkins.
When plans were underway for the construction of the new RULH Middle School 20 years ago, enrollment at RULH was at 1,377.
“In the summer of 2017 when I took office we had 805 students, today we have 777,” said Wilkins. “So, we have slowed the bleeding, because if you average it out we were losing a lot more than five or six kids a year, which is what we’ve lost in my tenure of six years here as superintendent,” said Wilkins. “It has slowed down, but it still hasn’t turned the tide where we feel it is productive to keep the middle school open financially.”
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, and only around 45 percent of the middle school in Aberdeen is being utilized.
While class sizes for fifth through eighth grades would increase if the repurposing of the middle school is approved, Wilkins said class sizes will still be an advantage at RULH.
RULH requested the performance audit be conducted.
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 if repurposing the middle school, which may involve the relocation of some current middle school staff members and layoffs, 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 will be well into the “red” by 2026 if a change is not made with the use of the middle school building.
According to the recent Projected Five Year Forecast provided by RULH Treasurer Zoie Garrett, the school district will be $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).
The only changes made in the forecast were salary and benefits, and it will be re-evaluated once official plans are made.
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).
The ADM enrollment numbers for RULH on the 2021-22 report card was listed at 683.
The plans are to move the Wasserman Blue Jay Day Treatment program that is currently located at the RULH High School to the middle school in Aberdeen.
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 Wasserman program at the RULH High School currently has 16 students and is around maximum capacity, but moving the Wasserman Blue Jay program to the middle school could allow for its growth.
During the public comment session, retired RULH educator Vicki Asbury, of Aberdeen, had a few questions regarding the costs to the school district that will continue if the repurposing is approved, and had other suggestions to hopefully avoid the repurposing of the middle school in Aberdeen.
“The building is still going to be air conditioned and heated and utilized. If it’s not fiscally responsible for 230 students, why can’t we keep the students here,” said Asbury.
“When the high school enrollment was declining, you reduced staff from four language arts teachers down to two and all the core classes. Why can’t we do that here, reduce the core classes down to two teachers?” questioned Vicki Asbury.
Wilkins pointed out how the reduction Vicki Asbury suggested would still not result in the savings the school district would receive by repurposing the building, mentioning that there will no longer be a need for two cooks, two custodians, a music teacher, physical education teacher, consumer science teacher, as well as other positions.
There were approximately 70 in attendance at the March 8 special board meeting.
The RULH Board of Education unanimously voted in favor of the repurposing of the middle school in Aberdeen during its regularly scheduled meeting on March 16 in the RULH High School lecture hall.
For the complete story on the RULH Board of Education March 16 regular meeting and the vote to repurpose the middle school building, be on the lookout for the March 23 editions of The News Democrat and The Ripley Bee newspapers.