ASHLAND — Kim Rogers has taught business classes at Ashland High School for more than 30 years, but her retirement at the school year’s end will mean a loss of three courses previously offered at the high school.
Principal Josh Packard said the school won’t offer classes in marketing, accounting and introductory business during the 2025-2026 school year. This year, those courses had 24 students, 22 students and 12 students, respectively.
Other courses Rogers teaches — mentorship and the Learning Through Internship course — will be absorbed by other Ashland staff members, Packard said.
The school will not hire anyone to take over Rogers’ three business-specific courses, thanks to the district’s reduction in force through attrition.
“It’s hard, because we have offered it for so long, and that’s sad to me that we won’t,” Rogers said. “But I understand the reasoning.
“It will certainly be different.”
Business classes offered at Ashland High during the 2025-2026 academic year
- Economics
- Honors economics
- Financial literacy
- Career and college readiness
- Work-related seminar
- Business management for agricultural & environmental systems
- Career-based intervention
- Learning Through Internships
- Floral design
- Greenhouse and nursery management
- Information technology
- Media arts internship
Rogers hopes students will still be able to find electives to engage them in business education. Those electives still exist at the high school, as it will continue offering several business courses.
Packard also said students who want access to marketing and accounting coursework can obtain those classes through the school’s partnerships with Ashland University and North Central State College.
“We’re not ending business education,” Packard said. “We’re just embedding it in other places, and we’ll look for places where we can do units on marketing and accounting in the future.”
Packard said Rogers’ decision to retire came in time to make sure her courses weren’t listed for students to sign up for next year. Students planned their schedules for next year around her absence.
Retirees and reorganizations
Supt. Steve Paramore has explained no staff members will be cut as part of the district’s reduction in force, which was announced in December. The district offered a one-time retirement incentive of $20,000 for teachers who announce their intention to retire by March 15.
Those teachers, then, may not be replaced, as is the case with Rogers. The district also hopes the reduction in force will help it redistribute staff more evenly with its elementary reconfiguration.
As of Feb. 11, Paramore confirmed 10 retiring teachers were eligible for the $20,000 incentive. That tally includes:
- Nancy Boyer and Rogers at the high school
- Four Ashland Middle School staff members
- Two staff members who split their time between the middle school and Taft Intermediate School
- Two Taft staff members
According to Paramore, the district will rehire for four of those positions. Two will be replaced from current district staff. Boyer’s high school art classes will be absorbed by other art faculty members.
The two Taft staff members retiring, Sue Bohland and Jill Lambert, are small group instructors, which the district pays for out of Title I funding. Paramore said the district will replace them if Title I funding allows.
Thus far, Rogers’ position is the only one the district doesn’t plan to rehire or replace.
It’s an important area because so many of those soft skills, life skills, life lessons are learned in business ed.
Kim Rogers
Rogers’ farewell
For Rogers, the choice to leave was one she struggled with. She didn’t plan for this year to be her last when it began. But, finally making the choice to leave felt like a weight off her shoulders. She looks forward to spending time with her grandkids and traveling more with her husband.
Throughout her more than 30 years of teaching, Rogers said she saw business education change a lot. She began her teaching career in a smaller district as the only business teacher.
But at Ashland, she’s worked with several other business colleagues over the years. They taught a large variety of classes, offering students a taste of business law, business math and more.
As she reflects on her departure, Rogers said she feels lucky to retire in her certification because often, electives like business classes or arts classes can end up on the chopping block when districts have funding challenges.
But that hasn’t been Rogers’ experience at Ashland.
“We think it’s really important to maintain opportunities for our students to look into careers that they are interested in after high school,” Packard said.
Rogers agreed.
“It’s an important area because so many of those soft skills, life skills, life lessons are learned in business ed,” Rogers said.
