Loudoun County High School

Loudoun County High School
Address
415 Dry Mill Road, SW Leesburg , Virginia 20175
Information
School type	Public high school
Founded	1954
School district	Loudoun County Public Schools
Principal	Bill Oblas
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	1,373 (2007)
Language	English
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Navy Blue and Gold
Mascot	Raiders
Rival Schools	Heritage High School Loudoun Valley High School
Athletic Conference	Dulles District Region II
Website	http://www.loudoun.k12.va.us/lchs

Loudoun County High School is a public secondary school in Leesburg, Virginia. It is located on 415 Dry Mill Road SW in the Town of Leesburg and is part of Loudoun County Public Schools. It currently serves students who live in western and southern Leesburg, Middleburg, and Lucketts. Many students, teachers, and locals refer to Loudoun County High School as County.

History

The school is the oldest high school in Loudoun County which opened in 1954. County has served a mostly rural population, and remained this way especially after Broad Run High School's opening in 1969 took sections in the more suburban eastern half of the county. However, as the growth of Loudoun County hit further west beginning in the 1980s, and because of rapid growth from that time on, most of County's population has become suburban.

After over 45 years of being the sole high school for the central part of the county, in 2000, County sent most of its eastern Leesburg student base to Stone Bridge High School after its student body ballooned to 1,600 students from about 1,200 for most of the 1990s. Two years later, County fed the remainder of its eastern Leesburg student base into Heritage High School. In 2005, a small number of County students were relocated to Freedom High School.

Renovations

County has undergone several renovations and expansions since it was opened. In the 1980s, a new science wing and cafeteria were built in the back of the high school, which allowed the old cafeteria to become the new site of the current band and chorus rooms. One large problem with the science wing was that it was located upstairs from the cafeteria, but was unconnected to the rest of the school. In 1996, a new main gymnasium and girls locker rooms were completed. The new gymnasium can carry about 1,300 people, and the old main gym (which could only carry about 500) became the auxiliary gymnasium. Six foundation based trailers were built to replace classrooms that were displaced by the project.

In 1999, additional parking spaces were built around LCHS because of the addition of eight temporary trailers that were placed on a faculty parking lot due to overcrowding; the trailers were moved to Loudoun Valley the next year when Stone Bridge opened. In 2002, two high school seniors set an assistant principal's office on fire, closing school for a week. Because of the fire's damage, the school had to replace its old-fashioned bell system with an electronic one that the other five high schools at that time used. The main office was renovated before the end of the 2001-2002 school year.

In 2005, Loudoun County underwent its most extensive project in school history, an eighteen million dollar endeavor, which included the building of another auxiliary gym to replace the older one (which was the main gym). The old auxiliary gymnasium turned into a new library, which used to be in a second floor hallway. The library's area turned into a new section of classrooms which eliminated the need for the six foundation based trailers which were removed. Additional classrooms were built adjacent to the science wing and aerial walkways were built connecting the second floor of the front of the school to the science wing. The completions were done in 2006.

Demographics

In 2005-2006, Loudoun County's student body was 75% White; 11% Black; 10% Hispanic; and 4% Asian.

Scottish link

Loudoun County High School also has a link with Dunfermline High School, a comprehensive school in Dunfermline, Scotland. The link has been in place for a number of years now, with Scottish students travelling to Virginia in Easter, and the American's traveling to Scotland in the Summer.

Accreditation and test scores

Accreditation

Loudoun County High School is a fully accredited high school based on its overall performance on the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia.

SAT Scores

The average SAT score in 2006 for Loudoun County was a 1,582 (530 in Math; 537 in Critical Reading; 515 in Writing).

School Year	Mathematics	Critical Reading	Writing	Total
2000-2001	518	530	n/a	1,048
2001-2002	520	533	n/a	1,053
2002-2003	533	544	n/a	1,077
2003-2004	535	555	n/a	1,090
2004-2005	551	548	n/a	1,099
2005-2006	530	537	515	1,582 (1,067 M & CR)

Enrollment History

School Year	Number of Students
1995-1996	1,116
1996-1997	1,259
1997-1998	1,289
1998-1999	1,432
1999-2000	1,584
2000-2001	1,151
2001-2002	1,172
2002-2003	1,118
2003-2004	1,145
2004-2005	1,219
2005-2006	1,244
2006-2007	1,323

Athletics

County plays in the AA Dulles District and Region II. The mascot is a raider, from John Mosby's era. Unlike most of the older Loudoun County high schools at some point in their history, County has never played in Group AAA, though it did flirt above the AA/AAA cutoff in 2000. Their rival school has traditionally been Loudoun Valley High School, but recently, Heritage High School has begun to assume this role because it is located less than five miles from County, along with Valley's departure to Group AAA in the 2005-2006 school year.

Loudoun County High School consistently fields strong girl's basketball, girl's soccer, girl's volleyball, and girl's tennis teams, all of which have been AA state runner ups within the last 10 years. Though it is the oldest high school in Loudoun County with many distinguished athletes and teams over the years, County did not receive their first state title until 2003, when they won the AA girls' tennis state title over Jamestown High School of Williamsburg. The girls' tennis team was led to victory by coach Robert Hanger. In 2006, Girls basketball finished second in the state to Jamestown High School of Williamsburg, Virginia, ending a tough run to the final 4 ending at Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, Virginia. County obtained their first ever AA men's state title with their Spring men's tennis team defeating Hidden Valley High School at Virginia Tech. The team consisted of Abhi Aggarwal, Rob Allinson, Allen Ernst, Adam Polen, Peter Satagaj, Jeremy Wetzel, Bryant Bland, Josh Montgomery, Paul Marshall, David Replogle, Andrew Cyhper, Vojtech Gall, and David Galuski. The boys, led by coach Robert Hanger (the same coach that brought the girls to victory just three years earlier) and captain Galuski, held a perfect season of 23-0. [1] The girl's volleyball team was the runner-up to the state championship in 2006 after winning the Dulles District championship as well as the Region championship. In 2007, the girl's volleyball team finished the season 28-0 and defeated Grafton High School to win the Virginia AA State Championship, led by head coach Jenica Matthias.

Trivia

• Loudoun County High School was mentioned in the movie, Remember the Titans, when Bill Yoast the former head coach at Francis C. Hammond High School of Alexandria, Virginia initially decided to move to another school as head coach. Yoast however in the movie and in real life stayed in Alexandria to become the defensive coordinator at T. C. Williams High School.
• The Mascot for the school, the Raider, was named in honor of the various Confederate Partisans of Loudoun. The original school seal depicted the Raider on horseback with a Confederate Battleflag in his hands. This logo was eventually changed to the current design in the face of racial criticism over the emblem, however, when the first new gym was built and the logos were painted on the floor the original design was accidentally used and had to be removed and repainted.