Estepp and Stockner School Districts to Merge; Potential Benefits in Development

Day five of the American Legion Buckeye Boys State (ALBBS) saw delegates just two days into their jobs. Many are still getting accustomed and there are still adjustments being made. One of those adjustments took place in the school board section.

“We merged two school districts and school boards from two different cities and two different counties,” said Dan Witcher of Estepp City, Superintendent of the newly-renamed “Steppers School District.”

The Estepp and Stockner city school boards have agreed upon a merger thus combining the school districts for the two cities. A few assets that will be joined together include schooling facilities, monetary funds, and students.

“We already had a treasurer and he accepted the job but went to the job fair however, and got another job,” Austin Watkins, former Superintendent of Stockner city school board noted in relation to the issues that the district faced before the merger.

Watkins, the now-Deputy Superintendent, was then forced to take up both superintendent and treasurer positions, which proved to be quite taxing.

“We noticed that Stockner City did not have a treasurer, they only had a superintendent,” said Clayton Kersey of Estepp City, Treasurer of the Steppers School District.

This strategic merger would benefit both cities in many ways, such as having double the budget and a lessened workload.

Now being the largest district in the state, more opportunities are open for them that were not previously available, one being the creation of a special education school.

“The other school districts would be able to send their special education students to our school. None of the schools in the state at this time have the resources to support this program,” Watkins said.

This merger can prove to be beneficial to all that is affected.

“The goal is unity in the community and that’s what this really brings for us,” said Witcher.

With combined efforts and combined resources, the Steppers School District has a great potential to innovate the education of their students.