South Ohio News

There were 640 eighth grade students enrolled in Lawrence County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 5.2% less than the previous year, according to reports from the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce.

Fairland Middle School welcomed most of the eighth grade students in the county, registering 114 students.

Within Lawrence County schools, the highest student count was found in second grade, with the smallest class sizes seen in 12th grade.

Statewide, Lawrence County ranked 39th in enrollment numbers, with a total of 8,302 students enrolled in the 2023-24 school year. It was also ranked 39th the year before.

In 2022, Ohio saw an average student-to-teacher ratio of approximately 1:15, which is an improvement for the state and is lower than the national average of 1:16.

Despite the apparent improvement, this positive trend is overshadowed by a general decline in public school enrollments, which was accelerated by the pandemic. This decline, aligned with the steady number of teachers in the state over the last 10 years, has led to low student-to-teacher ratios.

School name	# of 8th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Fairland Middle School	114	34.1	334
Chesapeake Middle School	103	28	368
South Point Middle School	99	31.8	311
Ironton Middle School	94	31.3	300
Rock Hill Middle School	83	31.7	262
Dawson-Bryant Middle School	82	31.9	257
Symmes Valley Elementary School	65	11.5	566
Chesapeake Elementary School	0	0	490
Fairland East Elementary School	0	0	336
Tri-State STEM+M. Early College High School	0	0	81
Ironton High School	0	0	365
Chesapeake High School	0	0	252
Dawson-Bryant High School	0	0	287
Fairland High School	0	0	347
Rock Hill Senior High School	0	0	289
South Point High School	0	0	322
Symmes Valley High School	0	0	161
Burlington Elementary School	0	0	329
South Point Elementary School	0	0	378
Ironton Elementary School	0	0	621
Dawson-Bryant Elementary School	0	0	598
Rock Hill Elementary School	0	0	731
Fairland West Elementary School	0	0	319