Kline

By Chris Chaney
Sun staff

When the West Clermont Board of Education announced the construction of a new consolidated high school on Jan. 5, questions abounded, no shortage of which centered around the newly formed high school’s athletic department.

The combination of Amelia and Glen Este High Schools into what will be called West Clermont High School obviously raised questions of administration, coaching and teams, but Dr. Keith Kline, West Clermont Superintendent, said that those questions are still in the offing.

“Once the building design process is well under way, we will begin looking at staffing issues for the future,” Kline wrote in an e-mail. “The actual merge will not take place for 2 ½ years. We will design an internal process that will guide us with the placement of both academic teachers and coaches so that those decisions are made prior to the end of the 2016-17 school year. That way, we will be ready to open in the fall of 2017.”

Glen Este High School Principal Bill Walker said that the sights of the two high schools is currently set upon their current students, specifically the upperclassmen who will graduate as alumni of Amelia or Glen Este High School. The questions surrounding the freshmen class at both schools, which will make up the first graduating class of West Clermont, will be made in the upcoming years.

“I believe this merger will provide additional opportunities for our students,” Kline said. “We should be able to field teams in sports we have not had enough interest in currently, expand the levels of teams in some sports to include more of our younger students and look at sports that we currently do not have.”

“Interestingly, I have received more questions and input on school colors and what the new mascot will be. We will establish a committee to solicit ideas from our community on those items, then let our students decide. I am hopeful we will have a decision before the end of this school year.

“The new colors and mascot become our school district’s identity. Because these items are how generations of students will be identified, I think it is important to have all of our students, regardless of grade, help with the decision.”

Other considerations will have to be given to the league affiliation of the new high school. Amelia competes in the Southern Buckeye Conference while Glen Este is a founding member of the Eastern Cincinnati Conference.

Both schools were on the border of divisional status when the Ohio High School Athletic Association reshuffled classifications before the 2013-14 school year. The OHSAA determines which division a school competes in based upon enrollment figures of students in 9, 10 and 11 grade with athletic opportunities.

Combining Amelia (476 boys, 420 girls) and Glen Este’s (443 girls, 464 girls), the new school would be well above the Division I barrier in every sport.

Given figures derived from the Ohio Department of Education for the 2013 school year, the new West Clermont High School could have an enrollment of some 2,400 should enrollment numbers remain consistent.

With the new consolidation, the school would surpass Milford High School (2,018 students) as the biggest school in Clermont County. It would also be the sixth biggest public school in the Cincinnati Metro Area and the 11th largest public high school in the state.

While West Clermont navigates the specifics that go into building and developing a new school over the next three years, Amelia and Glen Este will endure a unique twist on their intra-district rivalry; they may be opponents for now, but they’ll be teammates in the near future.