Clay Receives Everfi Seal

Congratulations to the CLAY LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT for earning EVERFI’s Empowered seal, awarded to fewer than 10% of the school districts across North America in 2023! The EVERFI Empowered Seal is a designation awarded to K-12 school districts that have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to whole-child education through the use of EVERFI’s comprehensive, evidence-informed digital programs in areas such as financial literacy, social-emotional learning, college & career readiness, STEM, and health & wellness.

Clay Book Fair 2023

The shop is already open: https://efairs.literati.com/?school=clay-local-school-portsmouth-oh. The book fair/shop will also be open the night of Open House (Monday, August 21, 2023).

Welcome, New Staff!

The 2023-24 school year will see a few new faces as well as some familar faces in the hallways.

Mrs. Boyd will join the library staff as an aide.

Mr. Cottle was hired to help FES students with language courses through the Clay Academy.

Mrs. Ervin will take over as the elementary library aide.

Miss Holbert joins our elementary staff as a kindergarten teacher. She is a Clay graduate with three years of teaching experience after graduating from Shawnee State Unversity.

Mrs. Lancaster will be an elementary aide. 

Miss Smith takes over for Mr. Rose in the Language Arts Department. She is a graduate of West HS and Shawnee State University.

Shad Miller joins our transportation department.

Connor Puckett joins our custodial staff as a part-time custodian.

Mrs. Gahm will be moving from first grade to PE.  Mrs. Sinclair moves to first grade.  Mrs. Rider moves to second grade and Mrs. Strickland moves to third grade.  Mrs. Mays will continue as the Gifted/Dyslexia Coordinator as well as taking over the Clay library (replacing Mrs. Parkes who retired).  Mr. Jackson will return as a teacher after retiring in May. He will continue to teach chemistry and selected math courses.  Mr. Rose will also return. He joins the facilities and technology department while also continuing as the athletic administrator, social media coordinator, and National Honor Society advisor.

Abby Scott will be coordinating our Project Bear program through Shawnee State University.

There will also be several student-teachers working with our students and teachers this year as well:  Abigail Howard, Carly Teener, Hope Wilburn, Ty Pendleton, & Callie Angel.

Three Long-time Staff Members Retire

Mrs. Parkes has announced, after 44 years in the Clay Local School District, her "final" retirement. During her career at Clay, she taught language arts and has been the Clay librarian and academic competition advisor for many years. Her dedication to the Clay Local School District will be missed.  Best wishes to Mrs. Parkes in her future "retirement" endeavors.

Mr. Rose announced his plans to retire in November at the end of this school year.  Mr. Rose has taught language arts and history during his teaching career. During his tenure at Clay, he has also been the district's athletic administrator, social media coordinator, and National Honor Society advisor. He coached several sports and helped establish the original mock trial team at Clay as well.  This is his 35th year in education (33.5 years at Clay).  

Mr. Jackson also announced his intended retirement in November.  He has been in education 34 years (33 years at Clay).  He has taught math, chemistry, calculus, and physics during his tenure.  He was also a basketball and baseball coach in his early years at Clay.

Mr. Rose and Mr. Jackson, with Board approval, will return to the Clay hallways in August.