Summary:
In Lee County Public Schools, two high schools serve a rural Virginia area with near-universal poverty—Lee High (grades 9-12, 803 students) and Thomas Walker High (grades 8-12, 291 students)—and the district ranks 63rd of 131 Virginia districts with a 3-star rating.
Thomas Walker High is the district's strongest school on most traditional measures, with the best graduation rate (90.7% vs. 88.3% at Lee High), the lowest dropout rate (3.7% vs. 5.8%), and dramatically lower chronic absenteeism (6.3% vs. 20.2% at Lee High). It also earned an elite 4-star ranking (67th of 328 Virginia high schools) in 2024-25 and beats Lee High in Biology both years. Lee High, however, shows standout subject performances: 100% proficiency in 11th-grade Writing in both reported years, 95.4% in Algebra I and 97.8% in Earth Science in 2025-26—all well above state averages. Yet Lee High's 20.2% chronic absenteeism rate is more than three times Thomas Walker High's and well above the state average of 14.8%, likely keeping it at a 2-star rating.
Resources also differ sharply: Thomas Walker High spends $13,436 per student with a 12.6-to-1 student-teacher ratio, while Lee High spends $8,468 with a 19.0-to-1 ratio—and those gaps align with outcome differences even though both schools have roughly 100% free/reduced lunch eligibility. But small-school rankings are volatile: Thomas Walker High plunged from 67th (4 stars) in 2024-25 to 184th (2 stars) in 2025-26, while Lee High stayed in the low-2-star range for three years. Combined, the two high schools have a chronic absenteeism rate of about 16.5%, more than double the district's 7.9%, meaning high school attendance is a district-wide concern worth watching.
Thank you for your feedback!