The Gallia County Local School District is home to a learning community that includes students, their families, their teachers and administrators, and a Board of Education devoted to providing opportunities for the personal growth of each individual. The school district, created from the consolidation of four smaller locals in 1974, is a large land mass district covering over 420 square miles in Gallia and Jackson counties. The geography of the district presents challenges but the Board, administration and staff have met those challenges with a determination to provide quality programming for all students.

In 1983 the taxpayers of the school district approved a bond issue that paid for the construction of four new elementary schools: Bidwell-Porter, Hannan Trace, Southwestern and Vinton. It also provided for renovations at Addaville and Cheshire- Kyger. In 1991 the school district consolidated the four high schools that had represented the former local districts into one school at the former Kyger Creek High School. Students participated in renaming the new school “River Valley High School.” In 1996 the Board of Education reopened the former Hannan Trace High School, and students chose the name “South Gallia High School.” The district continues to operate six elementary sites and two high schools.

Gallia County Local Schools fully embrace the Baldrige in Education quality improvement framework as the right way to do business for their students. Decisions in the district are based on pertinent data gathered and analyzed by staff. The district’s primary focus is improving student achievement, but this focus is supported by a belief that the best approach is a holistic one that insures that each student receives consideration as an individual with personal strengths and needs. The Gallia County Local Schools strives to help students become lifelong learners who will have the option of either remaining in the community as a contributing member or moving into the worldat- large to enrich their adopted communities.