Clay Local School District Profile

The purpose of this profile is to showcase the achievements of the Clay Local School District to the community beyond the snapshot provided by the Ohio Department of Education in its annual report card.

Who we are.

Board of Education (2023).

Donnie Caseman, President
Alan Boyer, Vice-President

Jason Bailey, Nathan Rider, & Jeff Whitley

Board of Education (2020)

Jason Bailey replaced William Warnock on the Board as of January 1, 2022.

Administration.

Todd Warnock, Superintendent
Russ Breech, CHS (6-12) Principal
Shane Rhea, CES (PS-5) Principal

Stacey Bailey, Assistant Principal (PS-12)

Brandi Blackburn, Treasurer

Kaitlyn Buckley, Assistant Treasurer

Staff.
Certified Teachers/Professionals/Paraprofessionals: 40
Administrators: 4

Secretarial, Clerical, Other Staff: 6

Custodial: 4.5

Bus Drivers: 5+

Total Employees: ~50

Enrollment. *as of October 2018

CHS (6-12): 352 with 186 in 9-12

CES (PK-5): 365

Total Enrollment: 717 (2018)^{*largest enrollment since 1986}

In the classroom.

• The Class of 2022 received over $270,000 in college scholarships. CHS graduates have received over seven million dollars during the last 20 years.

• The Clay Legacy Fund through the Clay Alumni Association has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years with the goal to financially help all Clay graduates who desire to further their education after high school. Twenty-one (21) scholarships, for example, were awarded by the Clay Legacy Fund in 2018. One hundred and one scholarships have been awarded since 2008. Clay Schools, which actually created a scholarship endowment at the Scioto Foundation in 2004, top all other school systems in the amount of invested scholarship funds with $383,000. ^{*as of 10/2022}

• Four Advanced Placement courses (Anatomy, Calculus, English Language, & English Literature) are currently offered at CHS, but students have the opportunity to take additional AP exams on their own. Since 2013, 220 students have taken 328 AP exams.

• Implemented in 2016-17, all 11th-grade students take the ACT college preparedness test at school, free of charge. CHS is also an ACT administration site during the calendar year. The graduating class of 2018 had five (5) students with a 30+ on the ACT. The 2019 senior class has four (4) students with at least a 27.

• Spanish, French, & German are currently offered as foreign language credits.

• Students have the option to take one or more of the 85+ elective courses through the Clay Digital Academy. These courses include electives in science, business, arts/digital media, math, journalism, computer programming, social studies, and career-oriented electives. Credit recovery courses are available as well.
   

Go, Panthers!

• Clay offered 12 varsity sports’ programs to student-athletes in 2021-22, along with 5 junior varsity, 7 junior high programs, and high school and junior high cheerleading.

• Clay Jr-Sr HS had 177 student-athletes participate in at least one sport during the 2021-22 school year, which is approximately 60% of the student population in grades 7-12.

• The Clay Volleyball team became the first team from Scioto County to advance to the OHSAA Final Four in 2018. The Panthers (24-4, 13-1) won the league, sectional, district, and regional titles on the road to state final four.

• CHS Volleyball team (19-6, 12-2) was Division IV District runner-up in 2017.

• CHS Boys’ basketball team (24-3, 12-2) won the league title, sectional title, and district title while finishing as Regional runner-up in 2017.

• Coach Betten received conference, district, and state coaching awards in 2017.

• BBK: Cole Gilliland, Nate Hinze, & Cameron King all reached the 1,000-point plateau in 2017.

• Girls’ basketball team received the OHSBCA all-academic team award for the highest GPA (regardless of size/division in 2016).  They received an all-academic team OHSBCA award again in 2017 and 2018.

• On March 27, 2019, the Clay Softball team became the fourth team in OHSAA softball history to record 800 total wins.

• Jensen Warnock made it into the OHSAA SOFTBALL record book with her 180 career hit (April 20, 2019 v. Vinton County).

• Shae Vassar had a 51 consecutive game hit steak come to an end on May 23, 2018 (the last game of her junior year v. Strasburg-Frabklin). The steak started on April 4, 2017 (v. South Webster), during her sophomore year. This streak currently ranks 2nd in OHSAA SOFTBALL history.

• In 2018, the team was 24-6/13-1.  The Panthers were the league, sectional, and Div. IV District champions for the second year in a row.

• CHS Softball team (28-2, 14-0) won the league, sectional, and Division IV district titles in 2017.

• Coach Gearheart received conference and district coach of the year awards in 2017 & 2018.

• CHS Baseball team won a sectional title in 2017 for the first time since 2010; they won the sectional title and were district runners-up in 2018 with a 19-7, 10-2 record and again in 2019 (20-9). They won the league and sectional title again in 2021 (19-7).

• CHS Tennis team won the league again in 2019 (their 10th title in the last 15 yeas). The team also won the league in 2017 and 2018. The doubles team (Nate Hinze & Gage Keller) advanced to the state tournament in Mason, OH, for the first time in school history in 2017.

• Cameron King advanced to the state track & field championship at OSU in 2017.  He finished sixth in the high jump (6’3”).

• CHS golf team won the league title 15 consecutive years from 2001-2015.

• We currently have ___ graduates playing athletics at the next level.

• Athletic Championships Clay Athletic Hall of Fame

Getting involved.

• Five new members of the CHS National Honor Society were inducted in 2023-24.

• Student Council.

• Seniors Service Volunteer Hours.

• Senior Olympics Volunteers.  

• Students continue to participate in the annual CF Walk and the annual food drive (Bags of Hope) program.

• Band/Music. The band travels to various performances during each school year, including the Portsmouth River Days' parade, Circleville Pumpkin Festival, Wellston Coal Festival, and the Jackson Apple Festival.

• Prom Committee

• Key Club (sponsored by the Portsmouth Kiwanis)

• Several Clay students have had award-winning art projects displayed in the Scioto County Visually Literate arts program each year.

• Spanish classes traveled to Puerto Rico in 2016.

• ​The NHS conducts CHS Blood Drives multiple times during the year to help the American Red Cross, the community, and the school.

• Clay participates in the River Days' Pageant. Past queens from Clay include Linda Nurse (1965), Cheryl Ricks (1972), Cindy Beckett (1983), Casey Stapleton (2007), & Alison Smith (2018)

• Clay offers an E-Sports team.

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At your fingertips.

• CHS in the Fall of 2017 became a 1:1 building with students in grades 6-12. In 2018, that access was expanded to Grades K-5. Each student has access to adequate digital resources to be utilized by every student throughout the day with each classroom having Chromebooks for each student. All students currently have up-to-date Chromebooks.

• Every classroom in the CLSD has a LTN SmartBoard and audio resource center.

• Many lessons, exams, and homework are completed using a provided digital platform such as Google Classroom.

• Teachers across CLSD utilize the educational tools such as Google Classroom, Study Island, Khan Academy, Accelerated Reader, and STAR Reading to interact and conduct learning in new and innovative ways.

• Communication with parents and students are sent via emails, text alerts, Twitter (@claylocalsd, @claylsdsports, and @claylocales), Facebook accounts (for the district, high school, and elementary school), and Instagram.