After years of educating the teens of Canton, Timken High school threatens to merge with McKinley High School.

     This plan to merge Timken and McKinley was developed by Canton school district superintendent, Adrian Allison.  The “Brighter Tomorrow” plan would combine students grades 10-12 in McKinley, leaving the freshman at Timken. Allison introduced this plan to the students and parents of Timken on Monday Jan. 19.

     According to Fox8news.com, Superintendent Allison said, “Becoming ‘One community. One high school’ is the right decision for our students and it is the right time to move foreword. I’m excited for this plan and I am hopeful that the community will come together to support it for the benefit of our children and our city.”

     Adrian Allison firmly believes in the decision to combine these high schools. According to WKSUnews.com, without this merger, Canton would be in debt by 2017. If the merger is successful, it could push them above the line by $1 million. There is a problem in the Canton school district budget and if they do not act quickly, they could be in deep debt.

     Despite the apparent benefits to this plan for both the city and the people of Canton, it is an unpopular proposal. Numerous jobs would have to be cut for this merger to be successful, putting many teachers out of work. Timken and McKinley have always differed in what they view as important.

     “The district always favored McKinley because McKinley’s sports team was the biggest thing in the district. Timken was always exceeding in academics,” Timken alum Brandon Cole said.

     McKinley’s sports programs are superior to Timken’s, though Timken has better career programs and academic opportunities. These things are too much for students, teachers and alum to abandon.

     One Timken student, McKenzie Dalton, has started a petition to try and stop the merger from happening.

     According to Fox8news.com, McKenzie said, “One problem this proposal creates is chaos and negative atmosphere in the school environment. Causing such a situation will affect everybody in the school and the community. Given the history of tension between McKinley and Timken, the merging will more than likely force many aggressive situations.”

     The merger of McKinley and Timken is unpopular but likely to occur for economic reasons.