Jefferson Twp. was also the lowest-performing district on the state’s report card in the 2022-2023 school year, ranking last out of more than 600 Ohio schools. It received 1.5 stars out of a possible five, with three stars meaning the district met state standards.
The district has a strategic plan that includes ambitions goals of increasing multiple parts of the state report cards, including increasing third-grade reading proficiency to 60-70% for the 2024-2025 school year. In the 2022-2023 school year, reading proficiency was less than 50%.
The tiny district has about 269 students this year, Clifford said. The 2022-2023 school year recorded just over 250 students. In May, Clifford said there were just 61 kids in the junior/senior high school building, and as of Sept. 6, 111 kids were enrolled in that same building.
“It’s a total reset for culture, for classrooms, for community,” Clifford said. “It’s a total reset for our students, for our staff, for parents, and just across the board, top to bottom.”
Jefferson Twp. is a rural district of about 30 square miles in western Montgomery County. It’s located near the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. Most of the people who live in Jefferson Twp. are farmers. But unlike some of the other rural districts that have seen a lot of growth, like Bethel Twp. in Miami County, Jefferson Twp. is likely to stay rural.
Superintendent change
Clifford was formerly the West Carrollton superintendent and retired in 2022 from the Montgomery County Educational Service Center as the director of administration and operations. In that role, he was frequently on the Jefferson Twp. Campus providing services to the district, Clifford said.
In April, longtime Jefferson Twp. superintendent Richard Gates was placed on leave. He is now the assistant superintendent until Dec. 31, under a contract with the district. Clifford will be the interim superintendent until July 2025.
The letter to Gates informing him he was placed on leave did not state a reason, but his 2024 evaluation in February was critical of his performance, even though the previous year’s performance review, in November 2023, rated him as “superior.”
While Clifford’s contract is only for one year and he has already retired from two separate districts, he says the school board is behind him and believes the changes can be sustained after he leaves.
Strategic plan
The strategic plan was put together with community involvement and several former students, Clifford said. Two of the school boards’ members also sat on the committee.
It has multiple components, including a plan to increase the agriculture education at the school, work with the community with an eventual goal of asking for a school levy, and increasing the state report card scores.
“We need to help farmers understand that we’re partnering with them, and we’ve got a program here that really supports what they do and how they do it,” Clifford said.
Clifford said that initiative will start with a $1.8 million agriculture building and a partnership with the Miami Valley Career Tech Center. Jefferson Twp. is paying for the building with federal COVID-19 funds, and the MVCTC is paying for the teacher at the school.
That program begins with a small animals program, keeping chickens, rabbits and goats on the property. There will also be a greenhouse. In the back of the school building, Jefferson Twp. kids will also be able to learn construction trades.
“That’s another huge opportunity for our kids,” Clifford said.
But the most important components will be raising achievement and proficiency rates, measures the state uses on the report cards, as well as third-grade reading levels and graduation rates. Clifford said one advantage a small district has over bigger ones is its ability to change.
“We can adjust and we can modify,” he said. “Agility and resilience are one of our core values, because we’re like that small strike force.”
Extracurriculars
Schools now agree that clubs and fun activities for kids make students more likely to come to school, a fight that districts have been having more since the COVID-19 pandemic took all kids out of school for at least a few weeks. Since that change, chronic absenteeism has skyrocketed and has yet to return to pre-COVID levels.
So far, Jefferson Twp. has their first junior varsity football team in a long time, alongside a band and music classes. The kids have a bowling team. Clifford believes once the agriculture building is up and running, some kids will come to school for those classes.
Looking ahead
Like many other districts in the area, more immigrant families are moving to the district. Clifford said several families from Spanish-speaking countries have enrolled their kids in the district, which they have dealt with by adding resources from the Montgomery County ESC.
While it’s a problem for other districts, Clifford said the limited homes in the rural district mean it likely could handle future additions.
The district may be tiny and deemed underperforming by the state, but Clifford says it has a long and involved history. He doesn’t think the community would accept being taken over by an outside district because of that history.
This past spring, there were roughly 19 graduating students in the class. Clifford expected 50 people to show up to graduation. Instead, there were almost 200.
“There’s a steep, long, long history of Jefferson out here, and they’re not ready to give that up or transition away from that,” Clifford said.
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