Loudoun Valley High School

Loudoun Valley High School
File:LVHS.jpg
Address
340 North Maple Avenue Purcellville , Virginia 20132
Information
School type	Public high school
Founded	1963
School district	Loudoun County Public Schools
Superintendent	Eric Williams
Principal	Susan Ross
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	1,331 (2011)
Language	English
Campus	Rural
Color(s)	Green and Gold
Mascot	Vikings
Nickname	Valley
Communities served	Purcellville Middleburg Hamilton
Feeder schools	Banneker Elementary, Emerick Elementary, Hamilton Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, Middleburg Community Charter, Blue Ridge Middle School
Rival School	Woodgrove High School
Athletic Conference	4A Conference 21B 4A West Region
Website	http://www.lcps.org/lvhs

Loudoun Valley High School (more commonly known as Valley) is a public secondary school in Purcellville, Virginia. The school is part of Loudoun County Public Schools and is located at 340 North Maple Avenue in the Town of Purcellville. Prior to the opening of Woodgrove High School in 2010, it was the sole high school for the western half of Loudoun County, which includes Purcellville, Hamilton, Round Hill, Lovettsville, Hillsboro, Middleburg, Philomont and Bluemont.

History

Loudoun Valley opened in 1963. The current principal is Ms. Susan Ross. Throughout its history, Valley has remained a predominantly rural high school, maintained a small enrollment of roughly 800 students each year, and did not experience much of the sprawl that eastern Loudoun County experienced in the 1980s and 1990s. Until the 1999-2000 school year, Valley was the smallest high school in Loudoun County.

Recently, due to immigration, Valley has begun to experience a high rate of growth similar to eastern Loudoun schools like Park View and Broad Run have. In 2002, Harmony Intermediate School opened as a school for 8th and 9th graders, making Valley a 10th-12th grade school. By the 2005-2006 school year, Valley had become the largest Loudoun County high school with 1,955 students. Valley had extreme overcrowding until a new western Loudoun County high school, Woodgrove High School, opened in September 2010. At this time, Loudoun Valley returned to having 9th-12th grades, and Harmony Intermediate School became Harmony Middle School, with 6th-8th grades. Loudoun Valley graduated its largest class in its, as well as in the county's history in 2011, graduating 558 students.

Accreditation and test scores

Accreditation

Graduation

Loudoun Valley High School is a fully accredited high school under the Virginia Department of Education's Standards of Learning tests.

SAT scores

Loudoun Valley regularly scores above the national average and the statewide average.

School Year	Mathematics	Critical Reading	Writing	Total
2000–2001	533	544	n/a	1,077
2001–2002	529	540	n/a	1,069
2002–2003	537	551	n/a	1,088
2003–2004	549	557	n/a	1,106
2004–2005	553	559	n/a	1,112
2005–2006	535	544	529	1,608 (1,079 M & CR)
2006–2007	546	553	538	1,637 (1,099 M & CR)
2007–2008	552	551	539	1,642 (1,103 M & CR)
2008–2009	542	554	543	1,638 (1,096 M & CR)
2009–2010	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
2010–2011	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
2011–2012	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
2012–2013	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
2013–2014	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
2014–2015	539	546	537	1,622 (1,085 M & CR)

Enrollment history

School Year	Number of Students
1995–1996	1,012
1996–1997	1,076
1997–1998	1,147
1998–1999	1,214
1999–2000	1,320
2000–2001	1,402
2001–2002	1,503
2002–2003	1,588 (1,172 HS)
2003–2004	1,682 (1,225 HS)
2004–2005	1,817 (1,322 HS)
2005–2006	1,955 (1,440 HS)
2006–2007	2,043 (1,513 HS)
2007–2008	2,163 (1,637 HS)
2008–2009	2,175
2009–2010	1,659
2010–2011	1,659
2011–2012	1,331

Athletics

The mascot is a Viking, and the sports teams currently play in the Dulles District during regular season play, and 4A Conference 21B and 4A West Region post-season.

District and region affiliations

Years	Group	District	Region	Conference
1962–2001	AA	Northwestern District	Region II	n/a
2001–2005	AA	Dulles District	Region II	n/a
2005–2007	AAA	National District	Northern Region	n/a
2007–2011	AAA	Cedar Run District	Northwest Region	n/a
2011–2012	AA	Dulles District	Region II	n/a
2012–2013	AAA	Dulles District	AAA East Region	n/a
2013–2015	3A	Dulles District	3A East Region	3A Conference 28
2015–present	4A	Dulles District	4A West Region	4A Conference 21B

Athletics

Loudoun Valley is best known for its football, softball, lacrosse, golf, volleyball, girls' cross country and gymnastics teams, which have advanced in AA Region II and AAA Northern Region competition in the last five years. Loudoun Valley High School also has a well-known marching band program known as the Loudoun Valley Marching Vikes. The Marching Vikes consist of music students from both Loudoun Valley High School and Blue Ridge Middle School. Currently, they compete in 4A competition during the fall months.

State championships

Loudoun Valley has won twelve AA state championships, which are:

• Three in Girls' Volleyball (2000–2001; 2001–2002; 2004–2005)
• Two in Softball (2003; 2005)
• One in Girls' Track (1976)
• One in Baseball (1972)
• One in Golf (1994)
• One in Men's Track 4x800 relay (2003)
• One in Men's Lacrosse (2004)
• One in Men's Swimming (2004)
• One in Men's Track 4x400 relay (2005)

Loudoun Valley has won one AAA state championship in Girls' Volleyball (2009–2010)

Loudoun Valley has won two 3A state championships, which are:

• One in Baseball (2014)
• One in Men's Track (2015)

Loudoun Valley has won two 4A state championships, which are:

• One in Men's Lacrosse (2015)
• One in Men's Cross Country (2015)

Loudoun Valley has won five AA sportsmanship awards, which are:

• Three in Girls' Volleyball (1999–2000; 2002–2003; 2004–2005)
• Two in Girls' Basketball (1993–1994; 1994–1995)

Rivalries

Valley's traditional rival school is Loudoun County High School in Leesburg, but this rivalry died down since the opening of Heritage High School of Leesburg in 2002. After Loudoun Valley's move to Group AAA in 2005, both Valley and County in 2006 agreed not to play games against each other for an indefinite time, making the rivalry nearly obsolete. Fellow Loudoun County school Stone Bridge also joined Group AAA in 2005 however, and rivalries have intensified between the two schools in many sports such as football, volleyball, and softball, where both schools have strong programs. Now with the opening of Woodgrove High School as the second Western Loudoun school in the 2010-2011 year, Valley and Woodgrove will play annually for the Western Cup.

Redistricting and reclassification controversy (2005-2007 playing cycle)

Before the 2005-2006 to 2006-2007 redistricting cycle, Valley was determined to be in Group AAA and was expected to join the Northern Region along with fellow district member Stone Bridge, but met very strong resistance with member schools. After several heated debates, Stone Bridge joined the Liberty District and Valley to the National District as a tournament only member. The move was highly controversial among the National District's membership, because they were located on an average of 50 miles or more away from Valley. This was remedied with Valley's reassignment to the Cedar Run District and Northwest Region in 2007, which was welcomed by most Northern Region members.

Redistricting and reclassification (2013-2015 playing cycle)

Before 2013, the Virginia High School League assigned teams to local districts, regions, and one of three state groups; A for small schools, AA for medium schools, and AAA for large schools. The districts were used for regular season play and the first round of post-season playoffs. In 2013, the Virginia High School League reclassified the system so that there were six state groups, 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A, with the smallest being 1A and the largest being 6A. They also switched from geographically located districts to school size based conferences for post-season playoffs, keeping the districts for regular season play. As part of this transition, Loudoun Valley was moved from state group AAA to 3A, remained in the Dulles District, and joined Conference 28. Loudoun Valley was later bumped up to state group 4A and joined Conference 21B in 2015.

Notable alumni

• Mark Herring, 48th Attorney General of Virginia
• Jimmye Laycock, Class of 1966, Head Coach of the College of William and Mary football team
• Clara Schwartz, convicted murderer
• Drew Hunter, Class of 2016, Professional runner and High School record holder for the indoor mile