Prior to the creation of the Southeastern Rural School District, townships had their own school systems. All of them had several elementary schools for grades 1 through 8. High schools were less common. Jefferson and
Liberty Townships had high schools; others such as Springfield and Franklin Townships had students attending high schools such as Centralia and Omega.
On March 25, 1935 the first meeting of the Southeastern Rural School District was held in Richmond Dale, Ohio. The first Board of Education included: President Carmi R JONES, Vice President Presley E. CALDWELL, Members, Howard RATCLIFF, Billie BRIDENBAUGH, and William HIRSCH. Township schools that were open in 1935: FRANKLIN-Antonis, Higby, Old Locks, Pride; HARRISON-Poe's Run; JEFFERSON-Richmond Dale; LIBERTY Fairview, Glade, Londonderry, Musk Grove, Sugar Grove, Vigo; SPRINGFIELD Mount Pleasant, Sunnyside.
The original staff in 1935: SUPERINTENDENT J. G. WHITE; HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS: Miley COTTRILL, Enid PARRETT, Margaret K. FOX, Palmer C. PECK, Josephine HIRSCH, Gertrude BARKER, Orville O'DELL. ELEMENTARY TEACHERS: Ruthann RATCLIFF, Charles BROWN, Ruth SMALLWOOD, Ralph WADE, Ira H. BARNHILL, Mabel THOMAS, Nelle DAILEY, Philip WEINRICH, Lucille THOMAS, Virginia BRANNON, Margaret BARTON, Mary E. TANNER, Betsy J. OYER, Harold SNYDER, Edna WOOD, Neva J. HIGBY, Bernice OYER, Blanche HAMM, Merle D. DUFFY , Levica WILLS, Chester STULTZ, Mabel YOUNG.
After approval of a $200,000.00 bond issue by the voters in 1936, lively discussions ensued concerning the location of a new high school, location of a new Londonderry school (fire destroyed the one in use), and improvements to Pride and Higby. The district went through a process of appraisals and sale of many of the township schools. The new Southeastern High School in Richmond Dale opened for the 1942-1943 school year.
A special session of the School Board was held August 16, 1952 to look over the Harrison School newly assigned to the district. Employees were hired soon thereafter for this additional elementary. In 1961, Liberty Fractional School District was added to our district and the name was changed to Scioto Valley Local School District. The current name of our school district, Southeastern Local School District, was chosen in the process of constructing our K-12 facility located at 2003 Lancaster Road that was dedicated October 5, 2003.