Wheelersburg schools joins seven other county schools today in welcoming back their students, for what faculty, staff and students at the 'Burg hope will be their last year in the current buildings.

“Everything is ready to go,” said Wheelersburg Superintendent Mark Knapp. “Our staff is very busy during the summer doing their maintenance work and the buildings are all in tip-top shape, ready to go.”

This month, the Ohio Department of Education released its State and Local Report Card scores, evaluating the performance of every school district in the state. According to these scores, Wheelersburg placed highest in the county, with a Performance Index score of 99 and an “effective” rating.

The school's PI score rose from 98.3 last year, and Knapp said this is the sixth straight year the district has increased that score. Wheelersburg schools also succeeded in meeting the state's Adequate Yearly Progress rating, and was one of only five county schools to achieve that mark.

“The last two days, (teachers) have been going back and doing some in-depth analysis of the test results, and making adjustments in their curriculum; looking at strengths and weaknesses and trying to make those adjustments to prepare for this year,” Knapp said. “We're really hopeful that next year we'll have all 30 indicators.”

Knapp said he was proud of his staff for continuing to use this information to get better each year.

Additionally, he said he was looking forward to spending the last year in the current school buildings before the new K-12 facility opens next school year. The currently-used high school building was opened in 1958, and the elementary building opened in 1968, he said.

“We're very happy about the progress we've been making on the new building. It's moving along rapidly. The weather has been favorable, even though it's been hot,” he said.

Once students move into the new building, the current buildings will be decommissioned.

Knapp said despite the age of the existing school buildings, all did very well on recently released ODE scores.

“The elementary and high school were both excellent, and our middle school was deemed effective. Out of our 27 indicators, the three we missed ... two of them were brand-new indicators: 5th grade social studies and 8th grade social studies,” he said.

Joining Wheelersburg in their return to classes today are Bloom-Vernon, Clay, Green, Minford, New Boston, Washington-Nile and Valley schools.

RYAN SCOTT OTTNEY can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 235, and by e-mail at pdt@ryanscottottney.com.