At Louisa County Public Schools, we know that each student is capable of learning, achieving, and succeeding. We know that graduates need to be prepared for the workforce as well as the classroom. We know that a child is much more than a score on a standardized test.
Through innovation, compassion, and hard work, Louisa County Public Schools is fulfilling the promise of public education and has emerged as a top-caliber school division in the growing central Virginia area.
Louisa County High School’s advanced curriculum options allow our best and brightest to graduate with not only a diploma, but also an associate’s degree, at little to no cost for families. Due to the education level of our faculty, LCHS is able to offer college credit courses right on campus every day.
LCHS has also developed one of the most varied and successful on-campus Career and Technical Education programs in the state. Our students hone job skills, earning industry certifications and licenses in fields such as the culinary arts, firefighting, cosmetology, building trades, turf management, nursing, and many more.
U.S. News and World Report recently bestowed its Bronze Award on LCHS, one of the only high schools in our region to receive the honor. Despite the challenges and disadvantages many of our students face, they continue to learn and pass the SOL tests at a higher-than expected rate compared to their peers at other high schools.
All of this is accomplished while the LCHS building, destroyed in the August 2011 earthquake, is being rebuilt and classes are held in modular units in what was and will again become the parking lot.
The stage for that across-the-board success is set at Louisa County Middle School, where pass rates continue to rise. Student achievement and school spirit go hand-in-hand at LCMS, which has also become a leader in the school division’s Olweus Anti-Bullying Program. While the middle school years can be challenging, our team at LCMS takes a whole-child approach to support our young learners and prepare them for the next exciting steps in their development.
Moss-Nuckols Elementary School, which serves the growing Zion Crossroads area, uses a garden as the centerpiece of its emphasis on nutrition and wellness. Second-graders cultivate staples, such as lettuce and tomatoes, which supply the school cafeteria. They grow other vegetables, such as bok choy and Swiss chard, which are used in school-wide taste tests, exposing students to new foods.
Jouett Elementary School, in eastern Louisa, has implemented the highly-regarded Responsive Classroom curriculum, which develops the rhetorical and conversational skills of students through daily interactions. Students also participate in a number of community-building groups, such as the Garden Club, which has beautified the grounds. Jouett’s Trailblazers program helps dedicated students develop leadership skills, while teaching them that true leaders serve.
The August 2011 earthquake destroyed Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, but the resulting challenges could not shake the heart of its dedicated faculty and staff. In August, the Patriots will begin the new school year in their new school building. The school’s Odyssey of the Mind team has become popular with students and successful, with one group nearly earning a trip to the national competition this year. Individual responsibility is reinforced for students in the BRAVO program, serving the needs of the school. Thomas Jefferson’s monthly Key competition encourages positive actions for students as groups, with monthly rewards for those classes that remain on their best behavior.
Trevilians Elementary Schools, serving western Louisa County, recognizes that success takes a different form for each individual student. With the motto “Create, Achieve, Celebrate,” the school encouraged short-term goal setting for every student this past year. Students determined their own weekly marks of success and earned treasure box prizes when they reached them. The school emphasized other incentives this year, including a weekly vocabulary assignment, which resulted in participating students being eligible to attend a school pep rally with the high school’s football team and cheerleaders.
Louisa County Public Schools is a smaller district in a rural setting and has overcome the loss of two schools- 40 percent of student capacity- in the August 2011 earthquake. Despite the challenges we face, we’ve solidified ourselves at the top of the region, thanks to our focus on each student as an individual, our compassion for each student and our dedication to each student’s success.