Nate Artino has begun his tenure as superintendent of Bellevue City^↗ET Schools with a first priority he describes in simple terms: listening. The district’s official superintendent page identifies Artino as the district’s superintendent, and the district’s Winter Newsletter says the Board of Education named him to succeed Troy Roth effective Aug. 1 after Roth’s retirement.

Artino is moving into the districtwide role after serving as principal of Bellevue High School. He is also a Bellevue graduate and lifelong community member, ties he said shape both his sense of responsibility and his approach to the job. “Having grown up here, attended our schools and spent most of my career serving this community, I understand both the pride people have in Bellevue and the expectations they have for our schools,” he wrote.

“My first priority is listening and learning,” Artino said in a written response to The OHEdTribune. “While I’ve spent most of my career in Bellevue City Schools, stepping into the superintendent role gives me the opportunity to see the district through a broader lens.”

He said he plans to spend time with staff, students, families, the Board of Education and community members to understand what they value, where they see challenges and where they believe the district can improve. “Building strong relationships and developing a shared vision will be the foundation for the work ahead,” he wrote.

That listening agenda begins against a clear enrollment backdrop. Ohio’s published district records show Bellevue City enrollment at 1,991 students in 2014-15 and 1,685 in 2024-25, a decline of 306 students, or 15.4 percent. Ohio’s statewide total declined less over the same endpoints.

The change was not a straight line. Bellevue reached its highest enrollment in the available series at 1,991 students in 2014-15. The count then moved lower overall, with a one-year increase to 1,924 in 2019-20 and a flat 1,816 in both 2020-21 and 2021-22. The district then recorded three consecutive annual declines, ending at the series low of 1,685 in 2024-25. The latest drop was 84 students, or 4.7 percent.

Artino said the trend will matter to long-term planning, but he did not describe enrollment as a reason to narrow the district’s ambitions. “Enrollment trends influence long-term planning,” he wrote, “but our focus is on ensuring every student receives an exceptional educational experience while positioning Bellevue to be the district families choose.”

The latest published building totals show how those students are distributed across the district’s three schools: 779 at Bellevue Elementary School, 511 at Bellevue High School and 395 at Bellevue Middle School. Those building rows sum exactly to the published district total of 1,685; they are a structural view of the district, not a separate denominator.

The latest grade-level snapshot also gives Artino an early planning measure. The district reported 97 students in kindergarten and 117 in the final grade in 2024-25; the kindergarten count was 82.9 percent of the final-grade count. That comparison is not a forecast: students move between grades, and a single-year snapshot cannot explain the district’s future enrollment. It does show the shape of the current pipeline as the new superintendent builds a districtwide view.

Artino connected his local roots to the work of earning trust rather than claiming automatic authority. “Bellevue has given so much to me and I feel a deep responsibility to give back,” he wrote. “At the same time, I know that being from Bellevue doesn’t mean I have all the answers.”

His stated approach is to be visible and consistent while decisions take shape. “Trust is earned through transparency, consistency and a willingness to listen,” he wrote. “My goal is to be visible, approachable and thoughtful in every decision we make.”

The enrollment records establish the scale and direction of the challenge Artino is entering, but they do not establish why students enter or leave Bellevue City Schools. His written response leaves that mechanism open while identifying the work he can directly influence: listening across the community, building a shared vision and making Bellevue a district families choose.

Enrollment counts come from Ohio’s public report-card and enrollment data resources and the published district records for Bellevue City. Artino’s current role and the district’s leadership transition are reflected in the Bellevue City Schools superintendent page and Winter Newsletter. Quotations, biographical details and the headshot were supplied directly by Artino to The OHEdTribune.

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