The Hermitage School District is a small, suburban/urban,

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

district serving parts of

Mercer County, Pennsylvania Mercer County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 110,652. Its county seat is Mercer, and its largest city is Hermitage. The county was created in 1800 and later organized in 1803. Merce ...

. It incorporates the city of

Hermitage, Pennsylvania Hermitage is a city contiguous with Sharon, PA in western Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. Hermitage is located about northeast of Youngstown, about southeast of Cleveland and about northwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 16,2 ...

, a former township that has transitioned into city status. The district is made up of three discontinuous pieces that surround

Farrell Area School District The Farrell Area School District is a diminutive, rural, public school district serving parts of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Farrell Area School District encompasses approximately including: the communities of Farrell and Wheatland, both o ...

and

Sharon City School District The Sharon City School District is a small, urban, public school district serving the city of Sharon, Pennsylvania on the western edge of the state. Sharon City School District encompasses approximately . According to 2000 federal census data, it ...

. Hermitage School District encompasses approximately . According to 2010 federal census data, it served a resident population of 16,220. By 2010, the district's population declined to 16,209 people. According to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, 31.6% of the district's pupils lived at 185% or below the Federal Poverty level as shown by their eligibility for the federal free or reduced price school meal programs in 2012. In 2009, the district residents’ mean

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

was

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

23,227, while the median family income was $46,994. In Mercer County, the median household income was $42,573. In the Commonwealth, the median family income was $49,501 and the United States median family income was $49,445, in 2010. By 2013, the median household income in the United States rose to $52,100. The Hermitage School District operates Karen A. Ionta Elementary School, Artman Elementary School, Delahunty Middle School, and Hickory High School. The district is one of the 500 public school districts of Pennsylvania. Hickory High School students have access to Mercer County Career Center programs and services. The

Midwestern Intermediate Unit Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV is an Intermediate Unit educational services agency based in Grove City, Pennsylvania. It serves Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great ...

IU4 provides the district with a variety of services, like specialized education for disabled students, hearing, speech and visual disability services and professional development for staff and faculty.

Extracurricular activities

The district offers a wide variety of clubs, activities and an extensive sports program.

Sports

The district funds: ;Boys: *

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

– AA *

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

– AAA * Cross Country – AA *

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

– AA *

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

– AA *Indoor Track and Field – AAAA *

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

– AA *

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

– AA *

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

– AA *

Track and Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

– AA *

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

– AA ;Girls: *Basketball – AA *Cross Country – AA *Golf – AA *Indoor Track and Field – AAAA *Soccer (Fall) – AA *

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

– AAA *Swimming and Diving – AA *Girls' Tennis – AA *Track and Field – AAA *

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

– AA ;Middle School Sports: ;Boys: *Basketball *Cross Country *Football *Soccer *Track and Field *Wrestling ;Girls: *Basketball *Cross Country *Soccer (Fall) *Track and Field *Volleyball According to PIAA directory July 2013

Notable alumni

Andre Coleman Andre Clintonian Coleman (born September 19, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He played professionally for five seasons as a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) with the San Diego Chargers, the Pittsburgh ...

(1990), former NFL wide receiver *

Rod White Rodney E. "Rod" White (born March 1, 1977) is an American archer. He competed in the 1996 Olympic Games and the 2000 Olympic Games. In the 1996 team competition he won gold with Justin Huish and Butch Johnson. In 2000 the American team (with Joh ...

(1995), Olympic gold medal winning archer

Free speech court case

Hermitage School District was party to a student discipline case which was appealed by the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

(ACLU) to the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. Known as ''

Layshock v. Hermitage School District ''Layshock v. Hermitage School District'', 593 F.3d 249 (2010), was a freedom of speech case of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in which the arguments surrounded the online speech of a public school student. The appeals co ...

'', the district lost the case when the Supreme Court refused to review it. An earlier court ruled the student's actions were protected by free speech rights. The student, Justin Layshock, received $10,000 in damages plus legal fees.

References

{{Authority control School districts in Mercer County, Pennsylvania