John Handley High School is an endowed public high school located in the city of

Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the most north western independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester wit ...

. It is a part of Winchester Public Schools. It was founded by a grant from Judge John Handley, hence the school mascot, the Judges. Construction on Handley High School started in 1922, and continues to the present day. Recently, the school completed the final phase of its multimillion-dollar renovation with the addition of an 8-lane track and a turf football field. The school is planning renovations to its tennis courts in the upcoming years, due in part to the girls' three-peat state champions. In 1998, Handley was placed on the list of the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

"for its local historic significance as well as its prominence as an architectural landmark."

Academics

Handley has many Advanced Placement (AP) classes: AP World History, AP US History, AP Government & Politics, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, AP French Language, AP German Language, AP Spanish Language, AP Spanish Literature, AP Latin, AP English Language, AP English Literature, AP Statistics, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC. In addition to the many AP classes, John Handley High School is one of the participating schools in the

Mountain Vista Governor's School Mountain Vista Governor's School for Science, Math & Technology (commonly Mountain Vista or MVGS) is one of Virginia's 18 state-initiated governor's schools, serving primarily 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. The school is composed of two campus ...

Program.

Athletics

Handley supports a winning athletics department. The Boys' Outdoor Track Team has a tradition of excellent runners, winning a VHSL-record seven titles from 1935 to 1941. Since 1948, John Handley High School has won a VHSL-record eight boys' titles, its last Group AA championship coming in 1993. The 1999 Baseball team won the program's 1st and only state title with a 25–1 record. The baseball program had a two-year record of 46-4 during 1999 and 2000 seasons. The Girls' Tennis Team is now a three-peat state championship team, placing first in VA AA state in 2007, 2008, and now 2009. In 2009, the Boys' Basketball team finished as Regional II Champions. The 2009-2010 football team beat Kettle Run 31–0 in their homecoming game in October 2009. The school boasts two State Football Championships in 1984 and 1994 and one additional State Championship appearance in 1999. The 2009-2010 Handley football team went 12-1 for their whole season ending at the state semifinal in 2009, losing to Bruton High School 10-7 after two missed field goal attempts. The 2010 Boys' Varsity Soccer finished undefeated in the Northwestern District, and place first in the District championship, but loss in the first round of Regional play to Potomac Falls by the score of 2–1.

Mentions in the media

* In September 2017, '' Architectural Digest'' named Handley the most beautiful public high school in Virginia * In April 2018, BuzzFeed wrote an article that mentioned JHHS as well as the Winchester Public School System. The article detailed the inaction that has taken place at Handley in reference to protecting students who are victims of sexual assault. * In June 2018, the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' wrote an article detailing how one student was abducted and sexually assaulted. Despite a judge finding her assailant guilty in court and issuing a no contact resolution, the school still required them to attend school together.

Notable alumni

* Lang Campbell - NFL Europe and

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

quarterback *

Patsy Cline Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, Patrice, or Patricia). Among I ...

- country music singer *

Gibb Droll ''Gibb Droll'' is an American guitarist known for his blues-infused rock. He is the founder of the Gibb Droll Band, but more recently has played with the group Keller Williams with Moseley, Droll and Sipe (formerly the WMDs). He is currently a mem ...

- guitarist with Keller Williams and the WMD's among other bands * John Gilkerson -

Carolina RailHawks FC North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games a ...

defender, former New York Red Bull *

Jon Huertas Jonathan William Scott Hofstedt (born October 23, 1969) is an American actor. Known professionally as Jon Huertas, he is best known for his role as witch hunter Brad Alcerro in ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'', Sergeant Antonio 'Poke' Espera in HB ...

- actor on ''Castle'' (TV series) * Brian Partlow -

offensive coordinator of AFL's

Cleveland Gladiators The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cava ...

, formerly with

Austin Wranglers The Austin Wranglers were an arena football team based in Austin, Texas. They played four seasons in the Arena Football League from 2004 to 2007 and spent one season in af2, the AFL's developmental league, in 2008. They made playoff appearances i ...

and 2005 AFL champion

Colorado Crush The Colorado Crush were an arena football team based in Denver, Colorado. They began play as a 2003 Arena Football League expansion team. The Crush played in the Central Division of the American Conference until the Arena Football League suspen ...

References

External links