Lauderdale County High School

Lauderdale County High School is a public elementary and high school (grades K-12) located in Rogersville, Alabama. It is one of eleven public schools in the Lauderdale County, Alabama School District. Enrollment count as of February 20, 2014 is 1108 students in K-12.

History

In the summer of 1907, the Alabama State Legislature passed an act providing for a high school in each county, provided the people of the county construct a building, furnish the equipment and provide five acres of land to the state within a year.  At this time, thirty-one schools were established across the state, and the town of Rogersville was chosen as the site for Lauderdale County.  By virtue of being first, our school has proudly worn the county's name.
    Lauderdale County High School was located at Rogersville in 1912 during the administration of General Emmit O'Neal.  For several years prior to this time, a high school had existed at Rogersville but was not accredited.
    The Rogersville community has shown interest in public education dating back to the early 1800's.  The oldest school of which there is a record was started by a Mrs. Joshua James, Jr., daughter-in-law of one of the first Baptist preachers in the community.  The daughter of Mr. James taught in this school from 1845 to 1866,  The school was located on Lambs Ferry Road.  It was a one room log building.  The school term was three months, and the teacher's salary was $23.00 a month.
    From this humble beginning, the school system grew.  At first the high school was housed in a two-story building.  This building was destroyed by fire in 1926 and was replaced by a modern one-story brick building at a cost of $30,000, of which $17,000 was donated by the community.     The first graduating class in 1913 consisted of three members.  In 1931 there were thirty-four members; by 1949 there were sixty-three graduates.  Enrollment peaked in the 1970's with senior classes numbering near or over 100 students.  
    The elementary building was destroyed by fire in 1959 and was replaced by a modern structure.  The present high school building was built in 1958.  
    The present campus has approximately fifty-two acres.  It consists of an elementary building, a junior high building, a high school building, a science wing, a cafeteria, band room, gym and athletic facilities.  Completed in 2001, the prominent Office/Library Complex contains the school's main office, a library media center for Grades 7-12 and two English classrooms. A new elementary building was built in 2010 to accommodate our elementary students in Grades four through six and provides grade-level access to a resource classroom, counselor office, conference room and a teacher workroom. the newest addition to Lauderdale County High School was a new high school science wing that was completed in January of 2015. The new building has four new state-of-the-art science classrooms and labs, along with a teacher workroom.  
    The principals of Lauderdale County High School since its establishment have been as follows:  W.L Davis 1912-15, Earl Hodson 1915-18, L.C. Tate 1918-19, E.R. Stroker 1919-22, L.L. Leftwitch 1922-25, M.C. Sandlin 1925-35, J.R. Roberson 1935, C.P. Nelson 1935-36, J.L. Couch 1936-41, J.L. Clay 1941-56, W.C. Hannah 1956-66, E.F. Cagle 1966-77, Gerald Perry 1977-78,  James Cooper Johnson 1978-93,  Kenneth Ray Hester, 1993-2001, Dr. Donna Henry 2001-02, Jay Stejskal 2002-11, and Eric Cornelius 2011-present.   At the present time, Lauderdale County High School is headed by Mr. Eric Cornelius, Principal, and Mrs. Sabrena McFall, Assistant Principal 
    Lauderdale County High School has had one student in its history to score a perfect 36 on the ACT.  That student was Kerri Ezell from the Class of 1996.  She is also the only student from the Lauderdale County school district to attain a perfect score.  Kerri graduated from Mississippi State University with a 4.0 grade point and was named a Goldwater Scholar. 
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Sports

Lauderdale County High School has earned 14 state championships, one in football (1974), one in track (1979), and twelve in girls basketball: (1987, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015). The Lady Tigers basketball team holds the record for most girls state basketball championships in Alabama (12), and for the most wins recorded in a single season (39). Records for the University of North Alabama indicate that the school then known as Florence Normal College once played Lauderdale County High School in the early part of the century, and LCHS won over the college team. In the 1940s during World War II, many young men were fighting, so the school played six-man football.^[1]

Notable Alumni

• Harlon Hill ^[3]

External links

• Lauderdale County High School Homepage
• Lauderdale County, AL School System Homepage
• Lauderdale County High School Alumni Site

References

Coordinates: 34°49′43″N 87°17′29″W / 34.82872°N 87.29132°W / 34.82872; -87.29132