Making a consolidated Ashtabula -Lakeside High School: Politics and educational leadership in rustbelt Ohio, 1963--2006

This dissertation is a historical case study of the political process that made a consolidated high school within the Ashtabula Area City School District in northeast Ohio and the leaders who made it happen. The study opens with an introduction and a review of four literatures including: educational leadership, school consolidation, high schools, and the politics of school location. The study then examines the strategies and arguments of leaders during the 43-year consolidation process. This dissertation argues that a failure of leadership caused the contentious and polarizing process out of which a consolidated Lakeside High School was made. The final chapter discusses why the process failed, suggestions for leaders, and examines the legacy of school consolidation in the American Midwest.