Lakota Local School District, Butler County, Ohio

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Lakota Local School District is a public school district of southwestern Ohio in Butler County's West Chester and Liberty Townships. It is the 7th largest school district in Ohio and largest in Butler County. The district currently serves over 17,000 students. The current superintendent is Philip Ehrhardt.

1 History
2 Athletics
3 Schools
4 External links

[edit] History

History of Lakota Schools

The district in its current configuration was established in 1957, after the Union and Liberty school districts were combined. The district was originally known as the Liberty-Union School District, and was renamed to Lakota Local School District in 1970.

Two of the district's schools, Union Elementary (1916) and Liberty Elementary (1928), were built prior to the consolidation and are still standing. In 1959, the Board of Education built a high school for the district; three years later, a third elementary (Hopewell) was added.

From 1969 to 1978, three junior schools were built. The first, Lakota Junior School (1969), was built next to the high school, and was later used as a freshman wing of the high school. It is now used to house the Lakota Early Childhood Center. Hopewell Junior was opened in 1973, and Lakota Junior was replaced by Liberty Junior when it opened in 1977. Adena Elementary became the district's fourth when it opened in 1978.

Freedom Elementary opened in 1988, the same year an addition was built onto the high school. Two years later in 1990, Woodland and Shawnee elementaries opened their doors. From 1992-1994, three new elementaries (Heritage-1992, Cherokee and Independence-1994), and a separate freshman building (1993) were built, as well as additions to six other buildings.

1997 marked the largest expansion to the Lakota district. In that year, two new high schools were opened (Lakota East and Lakota West). Freshman were moved to the old high school building, and the freshman building became a third junior school (Lakota Ridge). Kindergarten students from most of the elementary schools were consolidated into the Lakota Early Childhood Center, which also holds preschool classes.

In 2003, Van Gorden Elementary (named after the family that donated the land it sits on) and Lakota Plains Junior School were opened, along with a new Central Office Building.

Plans are currently being made to build additions on both of the high schools, as well as building a second freshman building which would send students to Lakota East. The current freshman building would be used for students who will attend Lakota West.

[edit] Athletics

The Lakota district competes in the Greater Miami Conference (GMC) in 24 varsity sports.

**State Team Championships (OHSAA)**
1984	Boys Cross Country	Lakota
1985	Girls Cross Country	Lakota
1992	Boys Basketball	Lakota
1994	Girls Volleyball	Lakota
1999	Girls Soccer	Lakota West
2000	Boys Golf	Lakota West

**Individual Lakota State Champions**
LAKOTA
1990	Carl Grove	Wrestling - 103 Weight Class
LAKOTA EAST
1998	Brian Godsey	Track - 3200 Meter Run
	Brian Godsey	Cross Country
2000	Lindsey Zinn	Cross Country
2001	Hetag Pliev	Wrestling - 171 Weight Class
	Lindsey Zinn	Track - 1600 Meter Run
	Erik Reynolds	Track - High Jump
2002	Hetag Pliev	Wrestling - 189 Weight Class
2004	Tony Johnson	Wrestling - 275 Weight Class
2005	Matthew Peters, Chris Keefer, William Johnson, Jason Fisher	Track - 3200 Meter Relay
LAKOTA WEST
2001	Matt McIntire	Wrestling - 135 Weight Class
2002	Matt McIntire	Wrestling - 140 Weight Class
2003	Zach Flake	Wrestling - 135 Weight Class