[orrby]

dallas-hiram.patch.com/events/pb-ritch-elementary-school-community-meeting

The meeting will be held Thursday, Dec. 8, at 6:30 p.m. in the P.B. Ritch Elementary gym, 140 Bethel Church Road, Hiram.

Just wanted to give a reminder to the parents of students that attend P.B.Ritch.

[JYD]

By phase out does this mean CLOSE or convert to a middle school ?

[Oh No Its Me]

Close is what I thought they said

[xxx]

Why the hell are they closing one school and opening another one?

[haolejohn]

C. Mark Willix & Associates, on 08 December 2011 - 05:22 PM, said:

Why the hell are they closing one school and opening another one?

PB Ritch is a very old school. It is also very large school with less than 350students. It makes economical sense to close it down...


We were told that the opening of new schools come from SPLOSTS $ as well as grants from the Feds. The money has to be used to build schools.

[xxx]

haolejohn, on 13 December 2011 - 08:46 PM, said:

PB Ritch is a very old school. It is also very large school with less than 350students. It makes economical sense to close it down...


We were told that the opening of new schools come from SPLOSTS $ as well as grants from the Feds. The money has to be used to build schools.

I can remember when it was built. It's younger than Hiram Elementary. Why not move those kids out of Hiram Elementary and into the P.B. Ritch building? The school situation in Paulding does not make my job easy.

[Just thinkin' hard]

C. Mark Willix & Associates, on 13 December 2011 - 09:08 PM, said:

I can remember when it was built. It's younger than Hiram Elementary. Why not move those kids out of Hiram Elementary and into the P.B. Ritch building? The school situation in Paulding does not make my job easy.

PB Ritch is in need of a very, very extensive remodeling that doesn't make any economical sense. Add to that the fact that the septic system at that school cannot be salvaged (it was built on bedrock before those things were considered) and it's now a nightmare. The school is full of mold and other health hazards. Once they opened Hal Hutchens up - PB Ritch's days were numbered.

[H&R Block]

My kids went to PB Ritch. I had kids there for 12 years from oldest to youngest. Ritch is in need of alot of expensive renovations as someone else said and it wouldn't make sense. The septic system there has been in horible shape for many years. I really hate to see them go. At one point, there were over 1100 students there, it was a nightmare for the building.

[LisaC]

Did anyone go to the meeting? I'm wondering if they have put out a map showing how the P.B. Ritch district will be split up.

[Nice Green]

LisaC, on 14 December 2011 - 10:07 AM, said:

Did anyone go to the meeting? I'm wondering if they have put out a map showing how the P.B. Ritch district will be split up.

I went. I believe they will get approval by the school board next month to close the school before they begin the process of creating redistricting maps, and then they'll be undergoing a process similar to the current middle school redistricting. There are more details at this link.

[workingforaliving]

PB Ritch has the dumbest school zone ever. The school is set back off the main road, yet the school zone involves the main road and parts on the other side of it.

[Riograce]

workingforaliving, on 14 December 2011 - 06:05 PM, said:

PB Ritch has the dumbest school zone ever. The school is set back off the main road, yet the school zone involves the main road and parts on the other side of it.

I figured their school zone had to do with the fact that the school is so *close* to Ridge Road, even though it's not actually ON it.

[workingforaliving]

Riograce, on 14 December 2011 - 07:07 PM, said:

I figured their school zone had to do with the fact that the school is so *close* to Ridge Road, even though it's not actually ON it.

Yeah, but it starts on Garmon Rd, crosses Ridge, to Bethal Church....but ends like 100 ft after the driveway to the school.

[xxx]

I was unaware of the functional obsolescence of the building. It sounds like this is a good move. Thanks for explaining it. I really didn't know and this is good information, especially for my line of work.

[J'smom]

workingforaliving, on 14 December 2011 - 06:05 PM, said:

PB Ritch has the dumbest school zone ever. The school is set back off the main road, yet the school zone involves the main road and parts on the other side of it.

We live a mile from Hutchens and were in Ritch district. With Ritch elementary now closed, we're in Hutchens district now. When they were trying to do a 3-way split with Ritch we were almost in Bagget district! I was wondering who drew up these lines!

[J'smom]

Just thinkin, on 13 December 2011 - 09:48 PM, said:

PB Ritch is in need of a very, very extensive remodeling that doesn't make any economical sense. Add to that the fact that the septic system at that school cannot be salvaged (it was built on bedrock before those things were considered) and it's now a nightmare. The school is full of mold and other health hazards. Once they opened Hal Hutchens up - PB Ritch's days were numbered.

Hutchens is a huge school but nicely laid out. They have 8 classrooms for each grade level but half the classrooms weren't even used until this school year. Even now, with the extra Ritch kids, there's still empty classrooms on most grade levels. It seems like they built Hutchens anticipating closing Ritch. My son loved Ritch and we miss the closeness of the school, but half his class came over from Ritch. Plus, he's on the bus 40 minutes less every day because we're so much closer to Hutchens than to Ritch.

[Mr.Dis]

I live right around the corner from Hutchens. My kids started at Ritch but moved to Hutchens the year it opened. Great school and staff. Biggest flaw is the playground. As I. Understand there will be a middle school and possibly high-school there as well.

[Kim Cobb PCSB Post 3]

Mr.Dis, on 22 August 2012 - 05:22 PM, said:

I live right around the corner from Hutchens. My kids started at Ritch but moved to Hutchens the year it opened. Great school and staff. Biggest flaw is the playground. As I. Understand there will be a middle school and possibly high-school there as well.

Thankful you have had a great experience.

To my knowledge, there are no plans for additional buildings on that site. Not sure where that information originated.

[J'smom]

Mr.Dis, on 22 August 2012 - 05:22 PM, said:

I live right around the corner from Hutchens. My kids started at Ritch but moved to Hutchens the year it opened. Great school and staff. Biggest flaw is the playground. As I. Understand there will be a middle school and possibly high-school there as well.

That's what my child said also--the playground is so small! For this being a new, big school they ought to have bigger playground equipment. My child suggested that we move the playground from old Ritch over to Hutchens!
I hadn't heard about any more schools being built there. I hope they don't--we don't need the extra traffic on the surrounding roads!

[Quality Service Tire]

We live just around the corner from P.B. Ritch and didn't even know it was closed until school started this year. What a waste......

[Veritas]

The school system does not provide funding for playground equipment. Alas, it is up to each school to fundraise and/or obtain grants and donations for equipment. That generally means new schools start off with little and go from there.

[Mr.Dis]

Kim Cobb PCSB Post 3, on 22 August 2012 - 06:46 PM, said:

Thankful you have had a great experience.

To my knowledge, there are no plans for additional buildings on that site. Not sure where that information originated.

What I had heard was that the county had purchased the property beyond the deadend of clonts. That is a substantial amount of land. The info was that a MS was apposed to be in the near future and a HS much later. It was also said the county would have access from 92 for that land. But I do realize you are much more informed than I. Am on this and I will defer to you on this.