There are more than 145 public schools in Louisville, Kentucky, servicing nearly 100,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade (K–12) education. The primary public education provider is Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS); the City of Anchorage operates the Anchorage Independent School District (AISD), including one school, Anchorage School, for K-8 education.
Schools are typically categorized as elementary, middle or high schools, though some exceptions exist. The Brown School offers education for all grades in one school. Moore Traditional School is a combined middle and high school (formerly two separate schools). The Anchorage School is the sole school of AISD, educating for grades K-8.
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Public elementary schools provide education through fifth grade (approx. age 11, depending on the student). Some elementary schools offer pre-kindergarten programs.
| Picture | School name | Opening date[1] | Origin of name and other information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atkinson Elementary School | 1902 | Joseph B. Atkinson, longtime city school board member | |
| Auburndale Elementary School | 1924 | Located in Auburndale neighborhood | |
| Audubon Traditional Elementary School | 1954 |
John J. Audubon, painter and bird enthusiast |
|
| Bates Elementary School | 1955 | James H. Bates, longtime chairman of the Jefferson County Board of Education
home of Safety City (a miniaturized city with 'go-cart' automobiles designed to teach students safe habits) |
|
| Blake Elementary School | 1970 | ||
| Bloom Elementary School | 1896 | I.N. Bloom; physician, City of Louisville Board of Education member 1911–1922, and first Board president | |
| Blue Lick Elementary School | 1966 | located on Blue Lick Road | |
| Bowen Elementary School | 1969 | known as "the greatest school on earth" | |
| Brandeis Elementary School | 1913 | Albert S. Brandeis | |
| Breckinridge-Franklin Elementary School | 1999 | merger of John C. Breckinridge Elementary and Benjamin Franklin Elementary Schools in 2000 | |
| Byck Elementary School | 1961 | Dann Conrad Byck, member of the Louisville Board of Aldermen and member of the City of Louisville Board of Education 1955–1959 | |
| Camp Taylor Elementary School | 1917 | located in Camp Taylor neighborhood, site of Camp Zachary Taylor 1917–1921 | |
| Cane Run Elementary School | 1832[2] | located on Cane Run Road. The school was originally housed in a log cabin, and may have had as many of seven different buildings. Present building constructed in 1972. | |
| Carter Traditional School | 1918 | Jessie R. Carter | |
| Chancey Elementary School | 2002 | Malcom B. Chancey, local business leader who established the Jefferson County Public Education Foundation | |
| Chenoweth Elementary School | 1954 | located near Chenoweth Lane | |
| Cochran Elementary School | 1900 | Gavin H. Cochran | |
| Cochrane Elementary School | 1968 | Garland S. Cochrane | |
| Coleridge-Taylor Elementary School | 1969[3] | composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor | |
| Coral Ridge Elementary School | 1971 | located in the Coral Ridge neighborhood | |
| Crums Lane Elementary School | 1962 | located on Crums Lane | |
| Dixie Elementary School | 1960 | located behind Valley Traditional High School, on Dixie Highway | |
| Dunn Elementary School | 1972 | ||
| Eisenhower Elementary School | 1972 | U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower (and General over Allied Forces WWII) | |
| Engelhard Elementary School | 1919 | ||
| Fairdale Elementary School | 1913 | located in the Fairdale community | |
| Farmer Elementary School | 2007 | James E. Farmer[4], teacher, principal and deputy superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools until 1976[5]. | |
| Fern Creek Elementary School | 1911[2] | Located in the Fern Creek community. The earliest building directly related to the present school was constructed in 1911. There was first a log-cabin school was opened in area around 1792. That building, however, cannot be directly linked to the present-day school. | |
| Field Elementary School | 1915 | Emmet Field | |
| Foster Academy | 1917 | composer Stephen Foster ("My Old Kentucky Home") | |
| Frayser Elementary School | 1925 | Nannie Lee Frayser | |
| Gilmore Lane Elementary School | 1955 | located on Gilmore Lane | |
| Goldsmith Elementary School | 1955 | located on Goldsmith Lane Southeast Christian Church, now one of the largest Protestant churches in the U.S., held its first service at the school in July 1962, and met there until it purchased its first property in October of that year.[6] |
|
| Greathouse/Shryock Traditional Elementary School | 1980 | Created with the merger of Greathouse Elementary (named for longtime teacher and principal Miss Tommie Greathouse) and Shryock Elementary (named for Gideon Shryock, architect) | |
| Greenwood Elementary School | 1957[7] | located on Greenwood Road | |
| Gutermuth Elementary School | 1970 | Leona Gutermuth | |
| Hartstern Elementary School | 1969 | Fred J. Hartstern, chief architect of the old Louisville Board of Education. He later created his own firm which designed over 45 school buildings including Ballard and Moore High Schools. | |
| Hawthorne Elementary School | 1954 | located in Hawthorne neighborhood | |
| Hazelwood Elementary School | 1951[8] | located in Iroquois Homes/Hazelwood neighborhood | |
| Hite Elementary School | 1963 | Jane Glass Hite (longtime educator) | |
| Indian Trail Elementary School | 1959 | located on Indian Trail | |
| Jacob Elementary School | 1932 | Richard Taylor Jacob | |
| Jeffersontown Elementary School | 1870s | located in the city of Jeffersontown | |
| Johnsontown Road Elementary School | 1967[9] | located on Johnsontown Road | |
| Kennedy Montessori School | 1964 | U.S. President John F. Kennedy | |
| Kenwood Elementary School | 1955 | located in Kenwood neighborhood | |
| Kerrick Elementary School | 1876 | Charles H., George, and Harry Kerrick who donated land for the original school | |
| King Elementary School | 1969 | civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. | |
| Klondike Lane Elementary School | 1971 | located on Klondike Lane | |
| Laukhuf Elementary School | 1974 | Louis H.C. & Emily Laukhuf (educators for 55½ years; 33½ years in Jefferson County) | |
| Layne Elementary School | 1969 | ||
| Lincoln Elementary School | 1966 | U.S. President Abraham Lincoln | |
| Lowe Elementary School | 1974 | John Lowe (retired principal from Lyndon Elementary and Waggener High School) | |
| Luhr Elementary School | 1966 | Mattie B. Luhr | |
| Maupin Elementary School | 1985 | Originally Parkland Elementary School, renamed for Milburn Taylor Maupin, first African-American central office administrator in the Louisville Public Schools. Served as interim superintendent January-June 1975 and retired as deputy superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools in 1978. | |
| McFerran Preparatory Academy | 1919 | John B. McFerran, land company president who donated land for Jeffersontown Elementary | |
| Medora Elementary School | 1880s | located in Medora neighborhood | |
| Middletown Elementary School | 1909 | located in the city of Middletown | |
| Mill Creek Elementary School | bef. 1876[2] | Earliest records place school's existence on/or before 1876. The current building was opened in 1970. | |
| Minors Lane Elementary School | 1968 | located on Minors Lane | |
| Norton Elementary School | 1917 | Jane M. Norton, former school board member and WAVE-TV president | |
| Okolona Elementary School | 1924 | located in Okolona community | |
| Portland Elementary School | 1853[10] | located in Portland neighborhood | |
| Price Elementary School | 1969 | Sarah Jacob Price, school's first principal | |
| Rangeland Elementary School | located on Rangeland Road | ||
| Roosevelt-Perry Elementary School | 1979 | Formed as result of merger between the Roosevelt School and Perry Elementary school in 1979. The original schools were for President Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Perry, Sr. (principal of the Western Colored School 1891–1927)respectively. | |
| Rutherford Elementary School | 1951 | Sally B. Rutherford | |
| St. Matthews Elementary School | 1955 | located in the city of St. Matthews | |
| Sanders Elementary School | 1962 | ||
| Schaffner Traditional School | 1955 | named after Henry B. Schaffner, member of the Kentucky Board of Education | |
| Semple Elementary School | 1932 | Named for Ellen Churchill Semple in 1932, geographer and educator who was a member of a group of scholars advising President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 (to end WWI). This school has a reading and math average under the school district and state average. A LOT of people don't recommend to go to that school. | |
| Shacklette Elementary School | 1966 | ||
| Shelby Elementary School | before 1850 | Isaac Shelby, Kentucky's first governor
The school was originally constructed by German immigrants. It was purchased by the Louisville Board of Education in 1868. |
|
| Slaughter Elementary School | 1967 | Horace B. Slaughter | |
| Smyrna Elementary School | 1961 | located in Smyrna neighborhood | |
| Stonestreet Elementary School | 1958 | Rosa Phillips Stonestreet, only female superintendent in the history of public education in Louisville's old City Board of Education. | |
| Stopher Elementary School | 2007 | Joseph E. Stopher[4], attorney and president of Gheens Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting education projects[11]. | |
| Trunnell Elementary School[12] | 1967 | Bertha Trunnell[4], long time educator in Jefferson County's south end. Trunnell's dedication ceremony took place on October 19, 1967. The school was built on farmland purchased from Clem Wiser. The Wiser family had farmed the land for 150 years (it was first settled by Charles Wiser in the 1800s). | |
| Tully Elementary School | 1978 | Roberta B. Tully
Built on site of the original Jeffersontown Elementary. |
|
| Watson Lane Elementary School | 1956 | located on Watson Lane | |
| Watterson Elementary School | 1970 | Henry Watterson, prominent Louisville newspaper editor and namesake of the Watterson Expressway | |
| Wellington Elementary School | 1968 | Sara Belle Wellington | |
| Wheatley Elementary School | 1911 | Phillis Wheatley, former slave and poet (first African American woman to publish a book of poetry) | |
| Wheeler Elementary School | 1969 | Virginia Wheeler | |
| Wilder Elementary School | 1957 | Ninde S. Wilder | |
| Wilkerson Elementary School | 1956 | Sylvia Wilkerson | |
| Wilt Elementary School | 1967 | Paxton Wilt | |
| Young Elementary School | 1971 | Whitney Moore Young, Jr., social worker and civil rights leader, became executive director of the National Urban League in 1961 and the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969. | |
| Zachary Taylor Elementary School | 1959 | U.S. President Zachary Taylor |
Middle schools provide education for grades 6-8, typically ages 11–14.
| Picture | School name | Opening date[13] | Origin of name and other information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barret Traditional Middle School | 1932 | Alex G. Barret, Louisville Board of Education member (president in 1918) and Jefferson Circuit Court Judge | |
| Carrithers Middle School | 1973 | Virginia P. Carrithers | |
| Conway Middle School | 1972 | Aubrey Conway, Jefferson County Board of Education member and community advocate | |
| Crosby Middle School | 1974[14] | The only middle school in Kentucky with a piano laboratory/class elective. | |
| Farnsley Middle School | 1998 | School was built on historic land owned by David Farnsley (longtime mayor of Louisville). | |
| Frederick Law Olmsted Academy North | 1928 | Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect who designed Louisville's major urban parks and system of urban parkways. Originally Southern Middle School, from its location in the southern section of pre-merger Louisville. Later renamed Southern Leadership Academy to reflect revised class organization of single-sex classes. Now an all-boys school. |
|
| Frederick Law Olmsted Academy South | 1956 | Frederick Law Olmsted This facility was formerly Rubado Elementary School, Gottschalk Junior High School, and later Iroquois Middle School. Now an all-girls school. |
|
| Frost Middle School | 1966[15] | Robert Frost, poet | |
| Highland Middle School | 1928 | located in the Highlands neighborhood | |
| Jefferson County Traditional Middle School | 1976 | third site of the first traditional middle school program in Jefferson County/located in the former Woerner Alternative Middle School building/previously J.M. Atherton High School for Girls (school of integrity) | |
| Thomas Jefferson Middle School | 1981 | Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States/previously Thomas Jefferson High School 1964–1981. | |
| Johnson Traditional Middle School | 1930, 1981[16] | Originally named Parkland Junior High School; renamed in 1981 in honor of Lyman Tefft Johnson, a civil rights leader, teacher at Central High School for 33 years, and former assistant principal at Parkland Junior High School. He was the principal plaintiff in the federal court case regarding the desegregation of schools in Jefferson County. Served as Board Member 1978–1982. | |
| Kammerer Middle School | 1972 | Margaret Kammerer, former music educator in the Jefferson County Public School system | |
| Kennedy Metro Middle School | 1996 | Alex R. Kennedy, previously Alex R. Kennedy Elementary School | |
| Knight Middle School | 1973 | Theron Turner Knight, a 42-year Jefferson County educator[17] | |
| Lassiter Middle School | 1973 | O.M. Lassiter | |
| Meyzeek Middle School | 1967,
1977[18] |
Originally named Jackson Junior High, renamed in honor of Albert Ernest Meyzeek, civil rights activist and educator who served as the school's principal for a number of years. Was one of the founders of the Louisville Urban League, which he chaired for 29 years. He also served on the state Board of Education 1948–1956. | |
| Myers Middle School | 1972 | Mary P. Myers | |
| Newburg Middle School | located in the Newburg neighborhood | ||
| Noe Middle School | 1974 | Samuel V. Noe, former Superintendent of the old Louisville Public School District | |
| Stuart Middle School | 1980 | Jesse Stuart, distinguished Kentucky poet and novelist (The school was previously Stuart High School.) | |
| Western Middle School | 1929[19] | located in Western Louisville | |
| Westport Traditional Middle School and Fine Arts Academy | 1961[20] | located on Westport Road (previously Westport High School) |
High school begins at grade 9 (approx. age 14), running through grade 12 (approx. age 18).
| Picture | School name | Opening date | Origin of name and other information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atherton High School | 1923 | J.M. Atherton High School for Girls (at a different location) was named after John McDougal Atherton, a local businessman and politician. He was instrumental in changing Louisville's school system administration from trustees to a Board of Education members.[21] | |
| Ballard High School | 1968 | The high school is named for Bland W. Ballard, 1761–1853, after whom Ballard County in the state's far-west Purchase area is also named. | |
| Breckinridge Metropolitan High School | 2001 | previous site of John C. Breckinridge Elementary School
The school has a structured learning environment for students with disciplinary problems and those placed by court order. |
|
| Buechel Metropolitan High School | 1983 | located at the former Bashford Manor Middle School site in the Buechel neighborhood
The school offers a structured learning environment for students with disciplinary issues. |
|
| Butler Traditional High School | 1954 | Suda E. Butler | |
| Central High School | 1882 | This school was originally called Central Colored High School. It was Louisville's first African American high school. | |
| Doss High School MCA | 1967 | Harry Doss | |
| DuPont Manual High School | 1892 | The school was originally called duPont Manual Training High School, named for Alfred Victor duPont, a local entrepreneur. The main building housed Louisville Girls' High until it merged into Manual in 1950. | |
| Eastern High School | 1950 | Located in the city of Middletown in eastern Jefferson County | |
| Fairdale High School MCA | 1958 | Located in the Fairdale community, southern Jefferson County | |
| Fern Creek Traditional High School | 1923[22] | located in the Fern Creek community | |
| Iroquois High School MCA | located in the Iroquois neighborhood near Iroquois Park | ||
| Jeffersontown High School MCA | 1925, 1966 | Located in the city of Jeffersontown
A fire, in the 1940s, heavily damaged the gym and cafeteria. This fire plus the opening of Eastern High School in 1950 caused the high school to be closed. The original building (located on same lot as present-day Tully Elementary) was used as an elementary school until it was demolished in 1975. The school was re-established at its present location in 1966 following petition by residents of Jeffersontown. |
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| Jefferson County High School | 1986 | The school was established in 1986 as an open-entry/open-exit program, allowing students to obtain a diploma through flexible scheduling. The school also operates JCPS's Independent Study Program. | |
| Liberty High School | 1997 | The school opened in 1997 at the site of now closed Bruce Middle School. It serves as a non-traditional program for students needing an alternative educational environment, especially those who have encountered academic difficulties. | |
| Louisville Male High School | 1856 | The school originally accepted boys only as students (there was a Louisville Female High School for the ladies, which became Louisville Girls High School in 1911 and merged into duPont Manual in 1950). In 1952, when Male went coeducational, the name changed to Louisville Male and Girls High School, but was reverted to Male High School due to protests by faculty, alumni and students of both genders. It moved from the downtown location in 1991 to the site of the old Durrett High School campus. | |
| Pleasure Ridge Park High School MCA | 1952 | Located in the Pleasure Ridge Park community | |
| Seneca High School MCA | 1957 | ||
| Shawnee High School MCA | 1928[23] | Located in the Shawnee neighborhood | |
| Southern High School | 1951[24] | Llocated in southern Jefferson County, 8620 Preston Highway, Louisville, KY 40219 | |
| Valley Traditional High School | 1937 | Located in the Valley Station community | |
| Waggener Traditional High School | 1954 | Mayme S. Waggener, principal of the old Greathouse Elementary School 1918–1946 in St. Matthews | |
| Western MST Magnet High School | 1961[25] | Located in the western section of pre-merger Louisville. | |
| Youth Performing Arts School | 1977 | The school offers extensive instruction in performing arts, providing academic classes through duPont Manual High School. |
| School name | Opening date | Origin of name and other information |
|---|---|---|
| Anchorage School | operated by the Anchorage Independent School District, offers an K-8 education (including special needs classes) | |
| The Brown School | 1972 | offers K–12 education
named after James Graham Brown, a local real estate developer, horse breeder, distiller, and philanthropist |
| Moore Traditional School | 1969 | Marion C. Moore, an educator Jefferson County Public Schools and administrator at Fern Creek High School 1926–1967
Moore Traditional Middle School added in 1999/presently operates as a combined school with a single principal |
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