Lee County Public Schools

Welcome to the official website of the Lee County Public Schools. We hope you enjoy your visit to our website. If you have questions, feel free to contact the Central Office at (276) 346-2107. Office hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays, except holidays. Our profile lists: History of Lee County, Mission Statement, Vision, Values and Beliefs, School Summary Information, Instructional Services, Assessment, Safety & Security Inititatives, Community Resources/Partnerships, Communication, Student Demographic Characteristics, Technology, Information Management Systems , Transportation , Maintenance , Food Services , and Lee County Head Start .

History of Lee County

For those of you who have no idea where Lee County is located geographically, we are situated at the extreme western end of Virginia, sandwiched between Kentucky on our north and west, and Tennessee to our south. Scott and Wise counties in Virginia border us on the east. We are easily accessed by US 58 and US 58(A) which run the length of the county. Our landscape ranges from craggy mountains with narrow, winding roads, to rolling hills with four-lane highways ribboning them. You can examine our county in-depth by viewing the History of Lee County compiled by Wandaleen Adams. This document examines transportation characteristics, census information, employment categories, geographic descriptions and our region's challenges in much more detail.

Mission statement

It is the mission of the Lee County Public School System to maximize classroom instructional time for all of our children so they will be prepared for a life of continuous learning and successful at providing for the basic necessities of life for themselves and their future families.

This mission will be accomplished by maximizing the educational opportunities for students in a safe environment that is comfortable and conducive to teaching and learning.

Vision

The Lee County School Board realizes the ever increasing challenge of living in the world today and thus seeks to inspire between educators and the community such united efforts as will secure for every child the fullest development in academic, vocational, physical, and social education.

Our Values and Beliefs

We believe excellence must be exhibited in all we do and must be taught to our children by encouraging and modeling...

Respect for others
Honesty and integrity
Self-esteem
Individual development and satisfaction
Participation, cooperation, and teamwork
Creativity, innovation, and initiative
Honest, open communications
Responsibility, dedication, and commitment
Educational opportunities that are challenging to the highest degree for every child, race, and socio-economic level
Maximizing effective and efficient classroom instruction
Physical exercise and wellness
The use of scientifically based research methods and strategies to improve instruction
The efficient use of the resources available to improve and enhance instructions
Continuous professional development for our faculty and staff
Parent involvement in our educational and school programs
Safe and non-violent schools to ensure safety and the well being of every student.

Schools

The Lee County School Division is comprised of three elementary schools—grades PreK-5, six elementary schools—grades PreK-7, two middle schools—grades 6-8, two high schools—Thomas Walker houses grades 8-12 and Lee High houses grades 9-12, one career-technical school, and an alternative school. All schools in Lee County are fully accredited by the Virginia Board of Education and all schools have met the No Child Left Behind AYP for five consecutive years. The proactive leadership by administrators, Central Office personnel, and teachers has made Lee County students highly competitive, both academically, and in extra-curricular activities offered at each school with students in other school divisions throughout the state.

Elementary Schools
The elementary schools in Lee County consist of nine schools that have a grade span of Pre-K through seventh grade. In addition to instruction in the core academic areas of mathematics, English, science, and social studies, art, music, band, health, physical education, technology, library media, and career exploration are offered. Title I school-wide services, special education services, gifted and talented programs, ESL services, and after-school services are available in the schools Pre-K-8.
Middle Schools
Students in grades six through eight are served by two middle schools in Lee County. They are Jonesville Middle School, located in Jonesville, and Pennington Middle School, located in Pennington Gap. Educational programs in the middle grades are developed to support students as they make the transition from young adolescence into early adulthood and to prepare them to succeed in high school and beyond in a global society. In addition to instruction in the core academic areas of mathematics, English, science, social studies, middle school students have learning opportunities in foreign language, health, physical fitness, art, music, chorus, band, technology, library media, special education services, career exploration, agriculture, and family and consumer sciences. Additional activities include gifted and talented programs, clubs, and interscholastic middle school sports.
High Schools
Lee County Public School Division has two high schools; Thomas Walker located in Ewing and Lee High School located in Ben Hur. Both of these high schools are fully accredited and offer college preparatory opportunities for students. The high schools offer a variety of Advanced Placement courses, Honor classes, and the students have the option of taking colleges classes for dual credit from the local community college. Along with academics, the high schools offer a wide variety of extracurricular activities. Each secondary school offers a range of courses suitable for students who plan to continue further education after high school or who plan to enter directly into the workforce.
Lee County Career and Technical Center
The Lee County Career and Technical Center offers an array of programs such as: Some of the courses offered are dual enrollment courses with Mountain Empire Community College. The goal is to provide students with knowledge and skills necessary to compete in the career and technical fields of employment. Additional information can be located on the Internet Website at: http://www.leectysch.com.
Career and Technical Educational Certifications and Licensure Dual Credit Classes:
- Drafting
- Electricity
- Mechanisms
- Keyboarding
- Word Processing
- Computer information System
- Design, Multimedia, and Web Technology
- Marketing
- Sports Marketing
- Adv. Marketing
- Marketing CO-OP
- Accounting
- Medical Systems Administration
- Intro to Natural Resources
- Child Care
- Child Care I
- Child Care II
- Horticulture
Industry Credentials:
- MOS ( Microsoft Office ) PowerPoint Word
- Customer Service
- Selling
- NCCER
- NOCTI: Basic Accounting Early Childhood Care and Education Forestry Building Construction Cosmetology Four Stroke Engines
Alternative Education
The Lee County Alternative Education Center offers competency-based educational opportunities for youth who have difficulty succeeding in the traditional school environment. A focus on direct instruction is enhanced with a multi-media approach and computer assistance. The Therapeutic Education Program is designed to assist students with specific behavioral problems. Students are required to have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) to be referred to the program. A comprehensive referral is required for each student. If the student is appropriate for the program an updated IEP, Functional Assessment, Behavior Plan, and Counseling Plan is developed. TEP programs have on-site counselors provided by Family Preservation Services. OdysseyWare® is an online curriculum designed to serve students enrolled in 9th to 12th grades that are at risk of dropping out of school and to assist in increasing the graduation rate for Lee County Public Schools. The Odyssey Ware program is also available for credit recovery and remediation services at both middle and high schools.
Knicks, Knacks, and Snacks
The Lee County Public System opened in August 2009. The Knick-Knacks and Snacks program provides a life skill training that is necessary for successful independent living. The job training classroom addresses community based learning, independent living skills, food preparation, job readiness, budgeting and organizational skills. The populations of students served are post-graduate students between the ages of 18 to 21 that have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and meet the specific program criteria.

Instructional Services

The Lee County Public School Division offers a wide range of instructional services to meet the diverse needs of our students. Specific programs include special education services, Title I programs, distance learning, and gifted education. Gifted education programs strive to meet the needs of gifted students. Distance learning programs provide a wide range of learning opportunities to the students of Lee County that would be otherwise unavailable due to limitations in access. Special Education Student Services offer a variety of programs and support services to promote achievement and successful school completion. The Lee County Title I program provides supplemental services in early literacy in two school communities—Keokee Elementary and Stickleyville Elementary. All other school communities offer Head Start for Pre-K students. The Title I program focuses on reading and mathematics and offers additional remediation services to serve the struggling students in the schools served by Title I funding. The Family Involvement Coordinator encourages parent and family involvement in the Title I program. Additionally, academically advanced students may enroll in courses offered through the A. Linwood Holton Governor’s School. These courses are designed for students who have completed the necessary pre-requisites. Lee County School Division provides a network of fiber-optic classrooms and labs to serve the students and community.

Distance Learning and Online Courses
In cooperation with the Virginia Department of Education, Lee County offers Distance Learning opportunities for public school students in Virginia for courses that are hard to staff. OdysseyWare provides an online curriculum for grades 6-12. OdysseyWare is an Internet-based program that delivers core curriculum that actively engages students in grades 6-12. Foreign languages courses are offered at the middle schools and students may enroll in the courses for recovery SOL purposes.

Gifted Education
The Lee County School Division is committed to providing unique, advanced, and challenging educational programs to address the academic, emotional, and aesthetic needs of gifted students. Students who have outstanding potential or abilities require differentiated educational services or curriculum modification to foster the development of their unique areas of giftedness. The Lee County Gifted Program seeks to provide sequential learning opportunities that address the diverse needs of gifted learners in disciplines that include core academic area, music, visual arts, creative writing, media arts, and theatre. Gifted education provides students with activities that enhance knowledge about content and careers, promote creative expression, foster skill development, and provide opportunities for public exhibition or performance. View screening forms and the 2006-2011 Local Plan for the Education of the Gifted.

Title I

Title I (a federally funded program) is used to help students narrow the achievement gap within the classroom and focuses on the disadvantaged school population. The Lee County Title I Program provides supplemental services in early literacy, and focuses on reading and mathematics in the elementary and middle schools. The Family Involvement Coordinator encourages parent and family involvement in the Title I Program.

Title I Pre-Kindergarten Program
Title I provides funding for two Pre-K classrooms; one at Stickleyville Elementary and one at Keokee Elementary, serving a total of 20 students. The program utilizes the Virginia Foundation Blocks for Learning. Title I collaborates with Lee County Head Start Program for training, classroom assessment, and transition. Title I Pre-K serves the areas that are not served by the Lee County Head Start Program.

Title I Technology Classes and Training
Each Title I school provides technology workshops for family members to learn how to operate and use computers, digital cameras, laptop computers, color printers and PowerSchool, an online management program for attendance, grades, and other communication features.

Title I Parental Involvement
Objective: To develop a more positive relationship between home and school.
The Lee County Title I Parent Involvement Program assists parents in working with their children to optimize achievement levels and to empower parents to become contributing partners in their child’s education. Activities include parent meetings at school locations where parents can receive assistance in locating materials, check out materials from the Parent Resource Center for use with children at home, seek advice on problem areas, attend trainings, work with technology, and get to know more about the school and the school system. Each school offers two Family Night events or more throughout the year.

Before and After School Programs
St. Charles Elementary offers 21st Century After School activities that focuses on reading, math, arts, and sports. Remediation is the focus of the before and after school programs so that struggling students will receive extra support in the cores subjects of math and reading. A variety of instructional approaches are used that include homework assistance, improving reading comprehension and vocabulary, and math assistance using direct instruction, cooperative learning, and/or instructional technology. Title I offers remediation services before, during, and after school to address the academic needs of the disadvantaged students

Special Education and Student Services

Lee County Public Schools currently has 60 special education teachers and 4 speech therapists serving approximately 769 students, or approximately 21% of the total student population, ages 2 through 21. Lee County Public School System has 1 physical therapist, 1 occupational therapist, 2 Licensed Physical Therapy Assistants and 2 Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants who provide services. Lee County Special Education and Student Services staff offers a continuum of programs and services for special education as well as general education students. Central Office staff currently includes one school psychologist intern, one educational diagnostician, one coordinator, one and one-half secretarial position, a social worker/Division Director of Testing, and one director.

The variety of services provided by staff members include nursing services, psychological services, attendance services, counseling services, and bullying prevention services. School nurses average a total of 600 student, parent, staff, and faculty contacts per month.

Technology plays a key role in the special education department. IEP Online was purchased in 2003. This software for special education administration allows teacher to create or update their students’ individualized education plans from any networked computer with Web browser. IEP Online also accommodates Section 504 plans, service plans, and behavior plans. Each special education teacher has a personal computer to access IEP Online and for communication purposes e-mail and Taskstream Online. Smartboards and projectors are being purchased for special education teachers. Students also have access to a variety of assistive technology devices such as AlphaSmarts, Neo2s and various assistive communication devices. A technology survey is completed each year with the special education staff to identify technology and training needs for the upcoming year.

Special transportation is provided for students with the most significant disabilities who are enrolled in the self-contained classes within the county. Buses are used to transport these students from throughout the county to located programs in the schools.

Lee County also provides specialized vocational programs for students with disabilities who are unable to participate in the general vocational program. Knick-Knacks and Snacks is a program that provides students with on-site training in a school-based business. Students work in the site and then have the opportunity to work in the community under the supervision of a job coach the third year. All of these programs provide vocational pathways students with special needs to prepare them for independent living so that they can become productive members of society.

The Special Education Advisory Committee meets 4 times per year and is made up of parents, community members, and agency representatives. The purpose of the committee is to advise the school division of unmet needs in the education of students with disabilities, assist in the formulation and development of plans for improving performance of students with disabilities, participate in the development of priorities and strategies for meeting the special needs of students with disabilities, submit periodic reports and recommendations regarding the education of students with disabilities to the superintendent for transmission to the school board, assist in interpreting plans to the community for meeting the special needs of students with disabilities for educational services and review the policies and procedures for the provision of special education services prior to submission to the school board and the Virginia Department of Education.

Assessment

Our educational curriculum is based on the Virginia Standards of Learning and requires students to complete a rigorous, challenging and comprehensive course of studies. Student Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment takes place in the third through eighth grades, as well as end-of-course testing at the high school level. The Commonwealth of Virginia has one of the most stringent levels of student assessment in the nation. It is our vision to raise the benchmarks for achievement each year, thereby improving the quality of our educational system.

Safety and Security Initiatives

The District has established and implements written security and crisis management plans with appropriate training for personnel, students, and parents. The District coordinates school resource officers with the Lee County Sheriff’s Department for security and support. The District conducts facility safety and sanitation inspections, fire plan deficiencies, and safety protocol in all schools. The District ensures compliance with all federal and state law and regulations. The District implements and coordinates student presentations that stress student safety with local agencies, including but not limited to, Internet Safety, Red Ribbon Week, Project Graduation, Bike Safety Week, and Fire Safety Week.

Community Resources/Partnerships

Strong community partners with the Lee County Schools are The University of Virginia's College at Wise in Wise, Virginia, and Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. A comprehensive Tech Prep program, coordinated from the community college, offers dual-credit courses to high school students in electricity, business, computer programs, CAD drafting, LPN/RN nursing programs, and welding. Students may earn as many as ten credits at the high school level that will transfer into the respective college programs. The Tech Prep program supports the educational system with mentoring, internship, and apprenticeship programs. Lee County Career-Technical School offers curriculum that will certify students on a national level.

Communication

Communication Systems Alert Now is a communication system used to call parents to report absenteeism, alert for school closings due to weather or other causes, announce events and activities. Taskstream.com is an online inter-communication system that allows employees to receive messages, create lesson plans, create webpages, etc. TaskStream is used at district or school level to efficiently organize and manage the following: instructional design tools to develop and share curriculum and instruction. All curriculums can be readily referenced to Virginia State Standards, skills and competencies and easily accessed through any internet connection. Manage professional development initiatives where the focus is on the demonstration of learned competencies. The tools provide excellent collaborative capabilities for teacher mentoring and the tracking of learned skills into classroom implementation where it counts.

Student Demographic Characteristics

The Lee County Pubic School Division serves approximately 3500 students in grades Pre-K-12 housed in 14 traditional schools: 3elementary grades Pre-K-5; 6 elementary schools grades Pre-K-7; 2 middles schools, 2 high schools, 1 career and technical school and 1 alternative school. Approximately 98% of the students are white of non-Hispanic origin and 1.6% of the students are black. All other ethnic backgrounds account for less than 1% of the student population. Sixty-three percent of the students enrolled in Lee County schools receive free or reduced lunch rates. Approximately 35% of the children in Lee County live in poverty. A more in-depth look at our students can be seen by viewing the Additional Demographic Profile Report as compiled by Wanda Anderson. This Report comprises enrollment information by grade level, special education by category description, and both drop-out & graduation information. There is an additional chart concerning staff level demographics.

Technology

The Lee County Public School Division continues to commit many resources to the development of an infrastructure to support effective classroom instruction. The system has approximately 2000 networked computers, construction of a Wide-Areas Network, and delivery of high speed InterNet service to every school. Additional technicians reduce the installation time and down time for repairs. The use of technology is not a new tool for instruction or administrative purposes in our Lee County schools. Lee County’s technology plan coordinates and ensures ready access to instructional technology. Every day we are reminded of how quickly the world changes and how the changes impact student achievement. Today, our schools must meet the demands of existing outside the traditional classroom. The continued upgrades and addition of the latest technological tools for the Lee County schools provides the teachers and students the opportunities to compete in an ever-expanding and changing global economic market throughout the world. The technological educational program in Lee County schools meets the challenge of serving a diverse student population. Our division continues to encourage the development of new instructional strategies, participatory curriculum decisions, and attempts to infuse advanced technology into all content areas. Each school has at least one computer lab and networked computers located in all classrooms. Also, available for use are mobile labs for classroom use and testing purposes.

To meet global challenges, the technology department strives to provide the leadership and support to enable educators to provide learners with equitable access to worldwide information through the state-of-art technologies and networks and meaningful staff development programs. The effective use of technology by the instructional staff will complement more traditional pedagogies to create an environment that better meets the needs of today’s students and to enhance the quality of life for all citizens.

Information Management Systems

The Lee County Public School Division’s Student Information Systems are provided by an online web-based program called PowerSchool. From their desktops, administrative users maintain required information for all local, state and NCLB reporting in a single district-wide database, allowing for real-time reporting and analysis and allowing teachers access from their classrooms to enter report card grades, class attendance, and to record and access student demographics.

Transportation

Transportation Services maintains and operates 67 school buses for the transportation of students who attend Lee County Public Schools. Approximately 780,078 miles are traveled each year on daily regular runs with another 20,000 miles being accumulated on field trips and other special activities. At the beginning of each school year, a pamphlet of safety rules and regulations is furnished to all students who ride Lee County Public School buses.

Maintenance

The Maintenance Department is responsible for the upkeep of equipment, 94 buildings, and grounds of all facilities in Lee County. The Department includes a staff of 13 technicians, and 33 custodians under the direction of the Supervisor of Maintenance. Each school has a custodial staff that is responsible for day-to-day maintenance of the school plant that One Director serves as both Director of Transportation and Maintenance for the District.

Food Services

Lee County Public School Division employees approximately 42 cooks and cafeteria clerks to work in the 13 school cafeterias. The cafeterias serve approximately 54,351 breakfasts per month and 107,910 lunches, per month, to students in the system. . The Lee County Public School System uses Data Futures Lunch Box Program to manage the district Food Services Program daily.

Lee County Head Start Program

The Lee County Head Start Program budget of $1 320,634.00 that provides services for 213 students, 32 full-time employees, 3 part-time employees, personnel salaries, fringe benefits, travel, supplies, and maintenance of playgrounds.