Lincoln County High School

The construction of Lincoln County High School started in 2004 and was completed two years later. Students from the former high schools that were closed in Guyan Valley, Hamlin, Duval, and Harts Creek were converted to middle schools. Owing to the proximity of this school to one of the communities that lost their high school, and existing rivalries, many in the county remain divided about the propriety of the rural consolidation plan despite its achieved efficiency. Some students in Harts attend Chapmanville High in the neighboring county while a smaller number of students who would have attended Harts High school before consolidation go to Lincoln County High School.

Debates about consolidating the county's high schools date back to the Recht Decision in 1982 which overhauled the funding of state schools and led to new curriculum standards. While the county soon consolidated many elementary schools and middle schools in the decades that followed the Recht decision, the four local high schools of the county continued to operate. However, test scores became so dismal that the state decided to step in and take drastic measures, overhauling the entire county school board and leading to consolidation and the creation of Lincoln County High School.

The school’s interior is made up of all the colors of the four former high schools and the motto of the school is “Together as One.” In the first months of operation, fights and arguments were commonplace. In the years that followed, however, a unified spirit has emerged that reflects the identity of many West Virginians who identify with a county more than a city. The school also has a partnership with the local community college, sharing the building with the Lincoln Campus of Southern WV Community and Technical College. This partnership allows the people and students of Lincoln County to take classes for college credit.

In 2018, a bomb threat led to an evacuation after William McCallister used social media to threaten the school. McCallister pled guilty and was incarcerated at Western Regional Jail. The high school has had many accomplishments such as its robotics team which in 2017 won the state championship. The school's softball team won a state championship in 2011.

Reynolds, David R. 1999. There Goes the Neighborhood: Rural School Consolidation at the Grass Roots in Early Twentieth-Century Iowa. Iowa: University of Iowa Press. Triplett, Ralph D. and Triplett, Boone. 2013. Images of America: Lincoln County. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. Lincoln County Board of Education. Lincoln County Schools. http://boe.linc.k12.wv.us (accessed December 11, 2014). Harris, Amy Julia. 2012. 1982 Recht Decision: State still rumbles from aftershocks of reform ruling. Charleston Gazette. http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201205120049 (accessed December 10, 2014). The West Virginia Encyclopedia online, s.v. “Recht Decision,” http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/19 (accessed December 10, 2014). West Virginia Research Legislature Auditor. Performance Evaluation and Research Division. 2011. An Examination Of The Effects On Educational Outcomes From High School Consolidation: Lincoln County’s Experience. PE 10-21-488. http://www.legis.state.wv.us/joint/perd/perdrep/DOE_1_2011.pdf (accessed December 10, 2014). Brenda Powell (Executive Secretary Lincoln County Board of Education), interview by Heather Edwards, December 5, 2015, transcript.

Bartley, Terry. Lincoln County High School Wins at Robotics!, Welcome to the Lincoln Log. March 28th 2017. Accessed December 11th 2020. https://thelincolnlogwv.wordpress.com/2017/03/28/lincoln-county-high-school-wins-at-robotics/.

Taylor, Grant. Lincoln County wins its first title, Herald Dispatch. May 27th 2011. Accessed December 11th 2020. https://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/high_school_sports/lincoln-county-wins-its-first-title/article_cdf0b728-525c-5640-ba8c-f73366c86013.html#:~:text=With%20a%20full%20crowd%20of,at%20the%20Rosemar%20Softball%20Complex..