5th St
Bainbridge, OH 45612

I grew up in this school system, graduated and I even participated in the athletics program. After graduating Paint Valley, I went off to college out of state and never looked back. I am not proud to be an alumnus of this school, but very embarrassed. I was, however fortunate enough to forged my own path to success. I have even surpassed those who graduated at the top tier of the class. The biggest point of failure this school has besides substandard educators is the extra-curricular activity coaches. 85-90% of the coaches are alumni. They hand-pick and mold select players, not based on athletic talent, but designed from their social circles. Student athlete s whose parents are either childhood friends or parents with community influence are favorites. This school places more emphasis on attempting to groom sports and less on actual education. If you are not from the area and looking for a High School that will provide your child(ren) a quality education, then skip Paint Valley. You are far better off providing your child(ren) better opportunities elsewhere.

You will see that the children who accel in this school district are often those whose parents/grandparents/families are teachers/administration, friends of the administration or pillars of the community. Those students whose families are not well known in the community, are often forgotten about. One member of the administration has been allowed to have his hand in everything in the district for so long, that they finally made a position for him, Assistant Superintendent. Between having that title, and being head of the transportation dept., he now has control over all the students from elementary to high school, even while on the busses, and that is exactly as he wanted it. Most of the teaching staff give 100% effort to the students, but are often shut down in their efforts by administration. One of my children (a student) was never even offered extra help in Kindergarten, and he has Aspberger's Syndrome and ADHD. After knowing that, they put him in the class of a first year teacher (straight out of college), who was overwhelmed, and watched him struggle. Thankfully they did offer a summer school program that year, and we were able to get him mostly caught up.