Ruskin Merger

There was a major announcement tonight regarding the future of the new Ruskin School. The school, located at the intersection of McClure Street and Xenia Avenue, is within walking distance of the St. Anne's Hill neighborhood. Read on!

Ruskin to house former charter school

By Scott Elliot, Dayton Daily News
Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 10:07 PM

The city school board Tuesday entered into what may be a first-of-its-kind partnership when it inked a deal to absorb an independent charter school but allow it to operate independently under the district’s control.

Construction of the district’s new Ruskin Elementary School in the Twin Towers neighborhood is nearing completion, but East End Community School had operated in a nearby district-owned school and draws many students from that neighborhood.

East End is an independently run and sponsored charter school founded in 2002. Under the agreement, the school board will have ultimate authority for the school but its day-to-day operations will be overseen by a five-person committee with two representatives from the school board. School officials said they believed the deal is the first such partnership in Ohio.

The school, with about 200 students, will roughly double in size when it moves to Ruskin. Its students will become part of the district’s enrollment count for school funding and the students’ state test scores will count toward the district averages.

So that seems to suggest a student head-count around 400 when the school opens in the fall. That number is consistent with the other new elementary schools in Dayton.

Along with Stivers, the new school will be a huge asset for the neighborhood in terms of attracting new families to our community. We should all look forward to welcoming these students to the new Ruskin School!