The Clay Local School District (CLSD) is located just north of Portsmouth, Ohio, in Clay Township in Scioto County--which is approximately 85 miles south of Columbus, Ohio; 50 miles west of Huntington, West Virginia; and 100 miles east of Cincinnati, Ohio. The district has three seperate academic buidlings. Clay Junior-Senior High School (7-12) is located on U.S. 23 approximately 3 miles north of the Portsmouth city limits. Rubyville Elementary (4-6) is on Maple Benner Road at the intersection of State Route 139. Rosemount Elementary (K-3) is on Rose Valley Road just off Rosemount Road in Rosemount, Ohio. The district received communication from the Ohio School Facilities Commission on May 3, 2007, that the district has been approved for the state funds. The district has plans to place a bond issue on the November 2007 ballot to build a new K-12 facility. Ohio School Facilities Commission
Brief history
The Clay Local School District was created in 1940 to serve the residents of Clay Township and the individual communities--Eden Park, Rosemount, Rubyville, and Twin Valley. For those students who desired to go on to high school before the opening of the high school in 1940, the board of education willingly provided their tuition to Glenwood High School or to Portsmouth High School. The district began with two buildings in Rubyville (the current elementary building, which served as the high school, and an elementary buidling (Sumers/Long Run School), which is now a local church); a building in Eden Park, which still stands but is no longer used by the district; and one in Rosemount (Scioto Trail School), which was located on the current site of JW Village Market. Eventually, the Rubyville building (built in 1939) became the elementary building, a new elementary building was built in Rosemount (Rosemount Primary, built in 1964), and with a bond issue to raise $325,000 (along with matching funds for a total cost of nearly $600,000) a new high school building, which opened its doors on Febryary 1, 1956, was built on Clay High Street. The district currently uses these three buildings. In 1964 and again in 1998 additions were added to the high school to add two wings and a band room. Mr. Carl Bandy was the Executive Head of the Clay (Rural) Local School District when the high school was built in 1955. At that time, the enrollment of the district was 719. One year later (1956), it was 915. During the period of peak employment at the Atomic Plant in Piketon, the enrollment was 1100. The enrollment for the district is currently 600. Clay Local School District
The Clay Local School District is a "small division" school in every Ohio High School Athletic Association sports' division. The school participates in ten OHSAA sanctioned sports--baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, boys' golf, boys' soccer, girls' fast pitch softball, boys' tennis, and girls' volleyball. The district also fields boys' and girls' basketball and volleyball teams in our junior high. The district also has baseball, golf, and softball as unsanctioned sports at the junior high level. Clay's enrollment, grades 7-12, is around 300 strong with approximately 170 students in grades nine through twelve.
In athletics, the Clay softball team has won three OHSAA State Championships--1980, 1981, & 1983. They were 79-1 in those three years under the direction of Carol Vice, a member of the Clay Coaches' Hall of Fame. In 1979 and 1988, they were runner-up. The softball team has won 22 league titles, 27 sectional titles, 19 district titles, and 8 regional titles along with their state championship banners. The softball team is the only team from Scioto County to ever win a state championship. In fact, the team was in the Final Four eight out of the 11 years from 1978 to 1988. Carol and Clay Vice have their names/stars on the Portsmouth Wall of Fame in honor of their success and contributions to the Portsmouth area.
The girls' basketball team went to the OHSAA Final Four in 1980. They are still the only girls' Scioto County team and one of only two in the S.O.C. (Oak Hill being the other one) to reach that level. Terri Boldman, a member of the Clay Coaches' Hall of Fame and current high school assistant principal, guided the girls to the OHSAA Final Four. They have won 3 league titles (1980, 2005, & 2005-06), 12 sectional titles, 2 district titles, and 1 regional title.
The boys' basketball team made it that far in 1969 under the direction of Arch Justus, who is also a member of the Clay Coaches' Hall of Fame, the Ohio Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, and the Naismith High School Hall of Fame. They have also won 14 league titles (most recently in 2004-5), 23 sectional titles, 3 district titles, and one regional title.
While these three sports may have garnered the spotlight in years past, Clay teams have won numerous league, sectional, district, regional, and state titles. The boys' baseball team won the Regional in 1944. The volleyball team has won 6 league titles, 13 sectional titles, 3 district titles, and went to the regional as recently as 2000. Most recently, the golf team won its sixth straight league title and qualified for the state championships for the third straight year (2004, 2005, & 2006). In addition, the tennis team captured its first SOC title in 2005. [1]
Clay Local School District administration
Clay Local Board of Education Members (2007)
Kevin Craft, President
William "Bill" Warnock, Vice President
Donnie Caseman
Craig Gilliland
Mark Harris
Administration in the Clay Local School District (2007)
Superintendent - Anthony Mantell
Clay Junior-Senior High School Principal - Todd Warnock
Clay Jr.-Sr. HS Asst. Principal - Terri Boldman
Elementary Principal - Tony Piguet
Rosemount Head Teacher - Charlotte Green
District Treasurer - Betty Applegate
Asst. Treasurer - Brandi Dillow
District Nurse - Beth Shaffer, RN
Athletic Director(s) - Richard McCleese & Mark Rose
Other activities: Acadmeic competition team (quiz bowl), band, Bible Club, cheerleading, Encore (show choir), CHS National Honor Society, the Clay Pep Club, student council, the venturing club, and the WCHS news team.
Community & school-related service activities:American Red Cross blood drives, CF (cystic fibrosis) walks, health fairs, Sierra's Haven, and other acts of volunteerism.
Carl Bandy - athlete, teacher, coach, administrator, & coach at Ohio University
Terri Boldman - She was a member of the 1968 CHS graduating class. She has degrees from Ohio University and the University of Dayton. Ms. Boldman is a member of the Clay Coaches’ Hall of Fame. During the years from 1974-1981 and from 1983-1985, she coached basketball, volleyball, and track at Clay. Before beginning her coaching career at Clay, she began the basketball and volleyball programs at both Rock Hill Senior High School in 1972 and began the same programs at Clay in 1974. Her volleyball teams won the league in 1979 and 1980; and won the sectional championship and the District Championship in 1978 and 1979. Her basketball teams won the SOC in 1980; won the sectional championship in 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1983; won the District in 1980 and 1981; and won the Regional in 1980. Her team in 1980 had the most wins in school history (24) and still holds the best record for a season by any team (24-2). She is still the only girls’ basketball coach in Scioto County and one of only two in the Southern Ohio Conference to advance her team to the state Final Four. She is currently the assistant principal at Clay Jr.-Sr. High School, her 35th year in education.
Marc Cottle - Mark was a member of the 198? CHS graduating class. After completing his degree at Ohio Wesleyan University, where he was a member of their baseball team, he returned to Portsmouth, Ohio. He is currently a financial advisor with American Express.
The Justus Family: Jeff Justus - He is a member of the 1974 CHS graduating class. He is a 1978 graduate of Rose-Hulman, where he was a member of two mean's basketball teams that won 20 games, three conference championships, and two national tournament berths. He later earned a Doctor of Osteopathy degree from Ohio University. As of 2007, he was in his ninth season as the head coach of the men's basketball team at Earlham College. John Justus - Sports Information Director at Wake Forest University. They are the sons of Arch Justus, former Panther coach and administrator.
Jay Prosch - He was a member of the 198? CHS graduating class. After completing his degree at Muskingum College, where he was a member of their baseball team, he returned to Portsmouth, Ohio. He currently works for Fifth Third Bank as a loan officer.
Teresa Ruby - Teresa was a 1980 graduate of Clay HS. She currently holds the overall scoring record for both the girls and boys basketball teams (1,846 points). She was a member of the 1980 girls' basketball team that made it to the OHSAA Final Four. Her basketball number (#14) was retired by the school. She currently holds four (4) girls' basketball records at Clay: Most Points - 1,846, Highest Free Throw Percentage - 70%, Highest Field Goal Percentage - 50%, and Highest Per Game Average - 21.2. She is the director of the Southern Ohio Medical Center Hospice and is the current Clay softball coach.
The Shaffer Family: Christopher Shaffer - He was a member of the 1998 graduating class of CHS and a 2002 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy--West Point. He is currently a captain in the U.S. Army. He has one tour of duty in Iraq. Sarah Shaffer - Sarah is a 2005 graduate and valedictorian of Clay High School. She was a Top 10 Female Finalist (Ohio) for the Wendy's High School Heisman Scholar-Athlete Scholarship. She is currently attending Miami University. Tim Shaffer - He is a 2002 graduate of CHS and a 2006 graduate of St. Bonaventure University. He is currently working on his post-graduate degree at the University of Dayton.
Cameron Thoroughman - He was a member of the 2006 CHS graduating class. While at Clay he was a member of two Southern Ohio Conference Division I golf championship teams. These teams made two trips to the OHSAA Division III state tournament (2004 & 2005). He was also on the 2005 Southern Ohio Conference Division I basketball championship team. He received a scholarship to play basketball at West Virginia University. He is currently redshirted.
Carol Vice - Mrs. Vice is a member of the Clay Coaches’ Hall of Fame. During the years of 1978-1988 she coached volleyball, basketball, and softball. During her 11 years as a softball coach, her teams never lost a league title (9), never lost a sectional title (11), and never lost a district title (11). The teams also won 8 Regional titles; won 2 State Runner-up Titles (1979 and 1988); and 3 State Softball Titles (1980, 1981, and 1983). In 1980 and 1981 her teams were undefeated going 55-0 and her teams were 79-1 during those three state championship years. Under her guidance, Clay’s softball team was in the state final four 8 out of 11 years from 1978-1988. Clay’s softball team is still the only team from Scioto County and the Southern Ohio Conference to win a state softball title. Carol Vice is still the only coach from Scioto County and the Southern Ohio Conference to win a state softball title. Her overall record in softball was 261-20, never losing more than 4 games in any of her 11 years. She was also honored with a "star" on the Portsmouth area Floodwall of Stars, which highlights area people who have given to the Portsmouth community or who have made important contributions to our society. In addition, the school named its softball invitational the Carol Vice Classic to honor her contributions and efforts on behalf of the Clay softball program.
