BY BERNIE MIXON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
GREEN TOWNSHIP -- With the addition of ninth-graders in the 1999-2000 school year, 2,500 students will walk the halls of Oak Hills High School.
To quell the feeling of being lost in a huge group, the school will be divided into houses or wings, each headed by its own principal and providing its own counseling and support services.
Beginning with the 1989-1999 school year, 10th through 12th graders at the high school will operate under the "house system," or "school within a school."
"We are convinced that this is the best approach," said Jay Kemen, who will be principal of one of the houses. "From a parent's perspective, they will have a contact person they are familiar with who will be with their children every year until graduation." This and other instructional changes are included in the $50.6 million construction project under way in the district.
Construction includes expanding the high school; building a middle school; and renovating, expanding and maintaining the two existing junior high schools and five elementaries.
It means there will be space at the high school for ninth-graders who now attend Bridgetown and Delhi junior high schools, effective fall of 1999.
The house system will work this way:
In 1998-1999, the building will be divided into four houses with the three assistant principals serving as house principals. In 1999-2000, when the ninth grade is added, a fourth house principal and additional counseling staff will be added.
Students will be randomly assigned to a house. Students will have the same house principal, counselors and homeroom advisers for four years.
There will be no restrictions on class schedules, and students will have access to other parts of the building for classes.
"Studies have shown smaller high schools averaging 600 in enrollment is an ideal number," said Susan Thomas, another house principal. "We are intending by the time the freshmen come in 1999 to have four small schools in grades nine through 12."
