Terre Haute North & South news | Vigo School Board approves consolidation

[NLCTigerFan07]

THN and THS will be no more within the next 3-7 years as Vigo Schools approves a massive consolidation plan.

https://www.mywabashvalley.com/news/vigo-school-board-approves-massive-multi-year-consolidation-plan/amp/

[Frozen Tundra]

Sounds like the move to the Sagamore Conference will be short-lived. It’s already a stretch for Danville and Lebanon to be joined by McCutcheon and Harrison who are around the 2,000 student mark (give or take). Now you’re adding two Terre Haute schools at roughly 1,500 students each that will eventually consolidate to form a 3,000+ student mega school. Could this land Terre Haute back in the MIC? Other than that, I could only see an HCC affiliation in the event they were to lose a member. Otherwise, independence it is.

[oldtimeqb]

My guess is athletic competition was not the driving factor of this merger. Mainly to save $$ by reducing overhead on educational spaces and administrative costs. 
 

But a presumable 6A school would be a long way from similar sized opponents 

[Frozen Tundra]

2 hours ago, oldtimeqb said:

My guess is athletic competition was not the driving factor of this merger. Mainly to save $$ by reducing overhead on educational spaces and administrative costs. 
 

But a presumable 6A school would be a long way from similar sized opponents 

Yeah they had funding issues that were only exacerbated by a decline in student population.

[Donnie Baker]

What about West Vigos?

[Frozen Tundra]

14 minutes ago, Donnie Baker said:

What about West Vigos?

They’re not part of the consolidation

[btownqbcoach1]

This is great 

[temptation]

This is super interesting and I’m excited to see how it plays out.

Closest recent comparison Elkhart?

[AJNLCBEARS]

Wondering if the fused Terre Haute schools will call themselves by either Terre Haute High School or Terre Haute Central High School.

Either way, I feel like their football team will feel more like Top 30 in the state, which is decent.

[Coach_K]

It will be interesting to see how this all works itself out. 3-7 years is a long time. What will happen to the coaching staffs? Will kids transfer to West Vigo, Northview, Sullivan, Linton, NC Farmersburg (sorry I know nothing about north of Terre Haute.) With the new rule I think you could see some kids moving around, maybe even before high school.

On a different note, why is the school system losing enrollment? Lack of jobs? I haven’t made my way up there for a couple of about 10-15 years so I’m not sure what it looks like anymore.

[ptr]

When I first saw this, I was thinking they would move students to one campus or the other, but I saw they are going to build a new campus. New school colors, mascot, and new school song, just to mention some of the changes. I don't know what they did at Elkhart when they consolidated since I'm nowhere near that city.

[HoopsCoach]

1 hour ago, ptr said:

When I first saw this, I was thinking they would move students to one campus or the other, but I saw they are going to build a new campus. New school colors, mascot, and new school song, just to mention some of the changes. I don't know what they did at Elkhart when they consolidated since I'm nowhere near that city.

Elkhart utilized existing facilities.  Anderson and Muncie did the same.  Hammond built a new high school (Central) when they downsized from 4 high schools to 2.  They already had Morton and shifted their internal district boundary to try to split students somewhat evenly between Central and Morton.

I don’t think building a new campus saves Terre Haute/Vigo County Schools much money.  If the properties they close and sell have any value, maybe they come out ahead, but as others have said, Terre Haute is not growing and those properties will probably sit empty.  Their superintendent has a history of getting run out of other districts for poor decision-making.  He will probably be retired or moved on before any of this plan actually happens.

[Sparty]

Who is the super there?

[Muda69]

12 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

Elkhart utilized existing facilities.  Anderson and Muncie did the same.  Hammond built a new high school (Central) when they downsized from 4 high schools to 2.  They already had Morton and shifted their internal district boundary to try to split students somewhat evenly between Central and Morton.

Kokomo did the same thing when Haworth high school closed back in 1984.  The Haworth building on the southwest side of town became the high school.  The old Kokomo H.S. building, uptown across from Memorial Gymnasium, housed 8th & 9th grades, but I think that is no longer the case. 

 

[HoopsCoach]

5 hours ago, Muda69 said:

Kokomo did the same thing when Haworth high school closed back in 1984.  The Haworth building on the southwest side of town became the high school.  The old Kokomo H.S. building, uptown across from Memorial Gymnasium, housed 8th & 9th grades, but I think that is no longer the case. 

 

Yes, the old Kokomo HS downtown is Central Middle School.