Lafayette High School (Virginia)

Lafayette High School is a public secondary school in James City County, Virginia, just outside the city limits of Williamsburg, Virginia. It is part of Williamsburg James City County Public Schools and is located at 4460 Longhill Road. Most of the Williamsburg city limits is in the Lafayette High attendance zone.

Lafayette High School opened in 1973 and served as the sole high school for James City County and Williamsburg City. The school itself is located in James City County though it has a Williamsburg mailing address. In 1997, half of its student body with the exception of rising seniors were moved to Jamestown High School which opened to alleviate overcrowding at Lafayette. The Williamsburg area began to develop rapidly in the late 1990s and 2000s, which prompted the opening of Warhill High School in 2007. Students were forced to redistrict.

The main office is located right at the main entrance of the school. The wide hallway opens up into the "upper commons". The cafeteria is located in this area. There are three lines for purchasing food. The auditorium is located to the left. Three large hallways branch out from the "upper commons." A smaller hallway leads to the girls locker room and the weight room used for athletic training. The first hallway across from the main office leads to the marketing classes, the gymnasium, the boys locker room, and the trailers, which will no longer be in use after the 2007–08 school year. There are two hallways which parallel the sides the auditorium. The first is known as the ramp. Another hallway at the top of the ramp leads to the fine arts classrooms. The other hallway leads to "the stairs. Another hallway branches off here as well. It leads to the mathematics and art classrooms. At the end of "the ramp" and "the stairs" is the "lower commons." The lower commons is a smaller gathering area that is busy when classes are changing. The Media Center is located at the back of the "lower commons." A loop goes around the media center. On one side is the semicircular world language and science hallway. On the outside of the semicircle is a pair of well equipped computer labs. On the other side is the social studies and technology hallway. At the back of the loop surrounding the Media Center is the entrance/exit to the bus loop. Two hallways branch off from the "lower commons." One leads to the small lecture hall and the fine arts hallway. The other leads to math hallway and the social studies hallway.

As of the 2012–2013 school year, Lafayette High School's student body was 61% (667) White; 25% (276) Black; 7% (79) Hispanic; 3% (29) Asian; and 4% (47) other.

Lafayette High School has several activities throughout the year. The first big occasion is the typical Spirit Week and Homecoming Dance. Lafayette is known in the school district for having a parade in Colonial Williamsburg that features each class making a float to accompany their class princes/princesses/kings/queens. A number of clubs also participate as well. One year, the Operation Smile club hosted a Sadie Hawkens Dance as a fundraiser. The sophomore class at one point held their Ring Dance at the school. Prom and After Prom have also been held at the school in past years. The school also has pep rallies for every sports season (Fall, Winter, and Spring).

The mascot is a ram and the sports teams currently play in the AA Bay Rivers District. Lafayette High School has major track, cross country, and football programs that has produced several professional athletes. Before Jamestown's opening, the Rams were in the AAA Peninsula District. The Rams have won seventeen AA state titles. They have five girls swimming titles from 2004–2008; one in field hockey in 2003; three titles in boys swimming in 1999, 2000, and 2009; two in boys indoor track in 2005 and 2015; one in boys outdoor track in 2005; one in AA Division 4 football in 2001; two consecutive individual girls tennis singles titles from 2007 2008; one in boys cross country in 2013; one in girls outdoor track in 2015; and in baseball in 2015 and 2019.

The Lafayette Band program has won grand championships at several band festivals since the school opened in the early '70s under the direction of D. Keith Miller. During the period of the early '80s "Corp" style marching programs was introduced by Director Miller and carried on by Directors John Ford and Director David Smith. The fledgling marching program was making great strides with the new competitive program and with the introduction of a solid marching program that further inspired the students to raise Lafayette's band program to a higher level. The latter '80s brought a change when acclaimed Director Alan Wright took over changing the program back to concert format band. The band consistently received Superior Ratings and was viewed as one of the top concert and jazz band programs in the state. When Director Wright retired in the early 2000s, the new Director T. Jonathan Hargis reestablished the marching program. Mr. Chris Smith directed the band for a short time as Hargis had stints at Warhill HS and Berkeley Middle Schools. Hargis returned in Fall 2014. In the fall of 2019 the Marching Band received their second Superior rating.

Lafayette High School has a long tradition of an outstanding theatre program. The current director is 2004 WJCC MS Teacher of the Year Suzan McCorry who has directed productions like Grease, Anything Goes, Happy Days, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Lend Me a Tenor, A Piece of My Heart, and Noises Off. Lafayette's one acts have a very successful history, having gone to states each year under McCorry's direction. Past Directors Include: Jack Poland, Bill Snyder, Gail Albert, Rosemarie Allmann, and Phil Raybourn.