Winfield High School (West Virginia)

Winfield High School is a high school located in Winfield, West Virginia with an enrollment of about 875 students. As of 2005, the principal is William Hughes. Winfield High underwent major expansion in 2006 to compensate for the overcrowdedness of the school and to update many of the facilities. The 6 million dollar expansion was completed in the fall of 2007. Winfield has been classified as a Class AAA school by the WVSSAC. The Fall of 2008 will mark Winfield's first year at that level, after years of success at the AA level.

Winfield High School is located on the banks of the Kanawha River in Winfield, West Virginia. The community is a rural town, located halfway between Huntington and a Charleston. Winfield High School is the newest of the four high schools in Putnam County. The school mascot is The General and official school colors are Green and White, with Black also commonly used.

William H. Hughes is principal of the school, although the school district lost a court battle in January 2004, when the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that ruled the Putnam County school system should replace Hughes with Joyce Vessey Swanson, who had been another candidate for the job. [http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/docs/spring04/31689.htm] West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals decision, "JOYCE VESSEY SWANSON, Plaintiff Below, Appellee v. THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE COUNTY OF PUTNAM, Defendant Below, Appellant and WILLIAM HUGHES,Intervenor Below, Appellee" January 2004, accessed January 19, 2007]

The courts ruled that all objective criteria in the Board of Education hiring policy showed that Swanson and Hughes were roughly equally qualified in some areas, but that Swanson was more qualified in others. The superintendent of schools, who had dispensed with a hiring committee, had asked different questions of the candidates in their job interviews and had not kept adequate records of their responses. The school system's claim that, while both candidates were considered superbly qualified, for subjective reasons they had chosen Hughes (a former vice principal at the school) over Swanson (a principal at Buffalo High School) was, inadequately backed up by evidence. As of the 2006-2007 school year, Swanson was principal of Hurricane High School in the district.

State Championships

Baseball 1985, 2001, 2002 Football 1960, 1961, 1963, 1985, 1987Boys Basketball 2004Girls Basketball 2004,2006Boys Track 1997, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 ,2008Girls Track 1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008Girls Soccer 1995, 1996, 1997Volleyball 2006Golf 2004Cheerleading 2003

Awards and recognition for academics

In May 2006 the school was named one of 21 "Schools of Excellence" in the state by the state Department of Education. [ [http://wvde.state.wv.us/news/1188/] News release, "2006 Schools of Excellence Announced", at the West Virginia Department of Education Web site, accessed February 19, 2007] In October 2006 the high school announced that the state Board of Education awarded it "Exemplary Accreditation status", which was achieved by only 74 schools (at any level) in the state. [http://putnam.schoolspan.com/WHS/Newsletter.asp] News announcement on the "News" Web page at the Winfield High School Web site, accessed February 19, 2007] The school has a tradition of winning academic awards. In 2001 it received the same "Exemplary" award as one of 50 schools in the state (in which there were a total of 817 at all levels). ("Exemplary" status is based on Stanford Achievement Test results, attendance, drop out rates, and writing exam scores.) [ [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r107:5:./temp/~r107nokVsI::] "Congressional Record [...] TRIBUTE TO WINFIELD H.S. -- HON. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (Extensions of Remarks - December 13, 2001)", accessed February 19, 2007] In 1996, the school was named one of 266 "Blue Ribbon" secondary schools across the country by U.S. Secretary of Education Robert W. Riley. Winfield High was one of only six high schools in the state to receive the award. [ [http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/02-1996/blues.html] "Riley Names 266 Blue Ribbon Schools", archived news release dated February 8, 1996, accessed February 19, 2007] WHS was also a Blue Ribbon school in 1994 and 1995. [ [http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:KiY10PegarkJ:www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.doc+%22Winfield+High+School%22+%22West+Virginia%22+awards&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=60&gl=us] Web page titled "Blue Ribbon Schools Program", accessed February 19, 2007] In 1983, Ava Florence Crum was one of two West Virginia secondary school teachers and one of 104 across the nation to win the first "Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching". [ [http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1983/91383b.htm] Web page titled "Announcement of the First Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching", dated September 13, 1983, accessed February 19, 2007]