Johnson Central High School is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located at 257 North Mayo Trail on the northwest side of

Paintsville Paintsville () is a home rule-class city along Paint Creek in Johnson County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 3,459 during the 2010 U.S. Census. History A Paint Lick Station was referred to in ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The school serves as the Johnson County School District's consolidated high school. As of the 2015–16 school year, enrollment was 1,048 in grades 9–12. The school was featured as a '' U.S. News & World Report'' America's Top High School, maintaining the Bronze Award since 2007.

History

During the early 1960s, the

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

began to consider the idea of a consolidated high school in Johnson County. School administrators began exploring the subject with students, teachers, and parents. In 1965, the subject was voted upon and it was decided to create a

tax levy A tax levy under United States federal law is an administrative action by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under statutory authority, generally without going to court, to seize property to satisfy a tax liability. The levy "includes the power o ...

for the construction of a new high school. On September 10, 1968, Van Lear High School, Meade Memorial High School, Flat Gap High School, and Oil Springs High School were all consolidated in order to form Johnson Central High School.

Academics

The school is home to a new Career Technology Center, consisting of the business, vocational, and agriculture classrooms. All classrooms are now labeled "21st Century Classrooms," meaning they have plasma televisions, infrared microphones, surround-sound speaker systems, and 360-degree full-color projectors. The school is home to a Freshman Academy, a large Honors Program, and several

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

courses. In addition, several dual-credit classes are offered, giving students the chance to earn college credit while in high school. The dual-credit programs are offered in connection with

Big Sandy Community and Technical College Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) is a public community college with its headquarters in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. It was created in 2003 from the consolidation o ...

University of Pikeville The University of Pikeville (UPIKE) is a private university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Pikeville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1889 by the Presbyterian Church and is located on a campus on a hillside overlooking ...

and the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

. JCHS's

Future Problem Solving Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI), originally known as Future Problem Solving Program (FPSP), and often abbreviated to FPS, is a non-profit educational program that organizes academic competitions in which students apply critic ...

team is the only school, internationally, to win five international championship titles, with the most recent in 2013. Its academic team was runner-up in the Governor's Cup in 2007, 2009 and 2010, and 3rd in 2001, 2003, 2008, 2012 and 2015.The Kentucky Association of Academic Competition
Retrieved on 2010-03-08 The academic team has won numerous district and regional titles, and has placed in the top eight every year since 2003. This team is well known nationally, especially after its 2009 national championship at the

National Tournament of Academic Excellence The National Tournament of Academic Excellence (NTAE) (formerly known as the Panasonic Academic Challenge AC is a national high school academic competition run by the Florida Department of Education. The tournament resembles the Florida's own Com ...

, in which they represented the state of Kentucky. JCHS was featured as

WSAZ WSAZ-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Huntington, West Virginia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves the Charleston, West Virginia, Charleston–Huntington media market, market, the second-largest television market (i ...

's first 'Cool School', gaining that credit in 2007.

Extracurricular activities

Johnson Central High School is well known for its football, basketball, baseball, wrestling,

and academic teams. In addition, it hosts several successful clubs including FFA,

FBLA The Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is an American career and technical student organization headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Established in 1940, FBLA is a non-profit organization of high school ("FBLA"), Middle Level ("FBLA ...

, DECA, HOSA,

FCCLA Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA, formerly known as Future Homemakers of America) is a nonprofit national career and technical student organization for young men and women in Family and Consumer Sciences education in public ...

, Beta, SkillsUSA, STLP, and FEA. Its DECA Quiz Bowl team were state champions in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The rivalry between Johnson Central High School and

Paintsville High School Paintsville High School is a secondary-level school located in Paintsville, Johnson County, Kentucky and is part of the Paintsville Independent School District. Its student enrollment as of 2015–16 school year was 224 in grades 7 through 12. T ...

, both in the same county, is considered to be one of the biggest high school rivalries in the state. The rivalry would always acculminate in a football game known as the Apple Bowl, a festivity associated with the

Kentucky Apple Festival The Kentucky Apple Festival is an annual festival held in Paintsville, Kentucky during the first Friday and Saturday in October. The festival was originally created in 1962 as a way to provide a market for the county's apple production. During 202 ...

, but the event was ended. Other extracurricular activities available at Johnson Central include marching band, pep band, stage band, concert band, golf, tennis, wrestling, soccer, bowling, volleyball, and honor choir.

Athletics

Johnson Central is a regional power house in basketball, winning four consecutive region titles from 2012 to 2015 under Coach Tommy McKenzie. The football team has won an average of over 10 games a year in the last 15 seasons. In 2015 JCHS went to the State Title game, only to lose to the South Warren Spartans. The Golden Eagles returned to the Class 4A state title game in 2016, defeating the Franklin-Simpson Wildcats 48-0 to capture the school's first state athletic championship in a team sport. In 2019 the football team made its 5th straight State Championship appearance and second State Championship under coach Jim Matney by defeating Boyle County 21-20. The wrestling team under coach Jim Matney won its 13th consecutive Regional championships in a row in 2021. Winning State Dual Championships in both 2019 and 2021. State Runnerup in2013 and 2020.

Notable alumni

Chris Stapleton Christopher Alvin Stapleton (born April 15, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and grew up in Staffordsville, Kentucky. In 2001, Stapleton moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to ...

– Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter *

Willie Blair William Allen Blair (born December 18, 1965) is an American former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball and current pitching coach for the West Michigan Whitecaps. Playing career Blair played baseball for Morehead State University bef ...

– former MLB pitcher

References

External links

Johnson County Schools
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1968 Schools in Johnson County, Kentucky Public high schools in Kentucky Paintsville, Kentucky