Shepaug Valley School (SVS) is a seven-year (grades 6-12) public, coeducational middle and high school in

Washington, Connecticut Washington is a rural town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in the North Eastern region of the United States. The population was 3,646 at the 2020 census. Washington is known for its picturesque countryside, historic architecture, and active ...

. Shepaug Valley School is the only public secondary school of Regional School District 12, which serves Washington, Bridgewater, and Roxbury.STRATEGIC SCHOOL PROFILE 2012-13 Elementary School K-6 Edition Booth Free School
" Regional School District 12. Retrieved on January 20, 2017. It was formerly two separate schools, Shepaug Valley Middle School (SVMS) and Shepaug Valley High School (SVHS). It was chosen as Connecticut's only public high school to receive the blue-ribbon school in 1998, and one of two in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

History

Prior to 2000 the school received

block scheduling Block scheduling or blocking is a type of academic scheduling used in some schools in the American K-12, K-12 system, in which Student, students have fewer but longer classes per day than in a traditional academic schedule. It is more common in m ...

. In 2012 the superintendent of the school district, Patricia Cosentino, wanted to establish a "flexible schedule" (using elements of both block and traditional scheduling) regime for both the middle and high schools, and therefore end block scheduling for high school students. The high school parent council opposed the plan. In 2012 there were about 320 students in the high school, and the enrollment was decreasing. 10 years later in 2022, there has been a continued decline in the amount of attendees at the institution, with a total enrollment of 434 students across grades 6-12.

Ground plan

Shepaug is a one-floor building housed on an campus. Since the space is shared with students of Shepaug Valley Middle School, who have their own wing in the building, high school students take academic courses in their own section of the building, a long hallway off of which classrooms branch. The rest of the building is shared between middle and high school students. It consists of a cafeteria, a large, central cavity known as "the mall", a library resource center with more than 10,000 print volumes, gymnasium, planetarium, swimming pool, band and choir practice rooms, fine arts, auto, and woodworking shops, and a professionally equipped theatre. Outdoors on campus, there is a

peace pole A peace pole（世界平和祈願柱) is a monument that displays the message "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in the language of the country where it has been placed, and usually some additional translations. The message is often called a peace ''pr ...

and reflection area, a swing-set, a pond, and a memorial to former student Tam Farrow. Shepaug also hosts soccer and field hockey fields, a competitive cross country trail, and a track that was recently under renovation.

Notable alumni

* Stephen C. Reich, United States Army Major killed during

Operation Red Wings Operation Red Wings (often incorrectly referred to as ''Operation Redwing'' or ''Operation Red Wing''), informally referred to as the Battle of Abbas Ghar, was a joint military operation conducted by the United States in the Pech District ...

* Evan Scribner, former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player (

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

) * Joe Moravsky, athlete and reality television contestant *

Sadie Dupuis Sarah Elizabeth "Sadie" Dupuis (born July 8, 1988) is an American musician who is the guitarist, lead vocalist and lyricist for the band Speedy Ortiz. She has also released two solo albums, ''Slugger'' and ''Haunted Painting'', under the name Sad ...

, lead vocals and guitar in band

Speedy Ortiz Speedy Ortiz is an American indie rock band from Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. Originally a solo project for founder Sadie Dupuis, from 2011 a full band incarnation has released three EPs and three LPs mostly on Carpark Records. As ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Schools in Litchfield County, Connecticut Public high schools in Connecticut Public middle schools in Connecticut 1969 establishments in Connecticut