The Lincolnview Local School District was formed after voters approved the consolidation of Van Del, York, and Hoaglin Jackson Schools in November 1959. The school board adopted the new school name, Lincolnview Local Schools, on July 1, 1960. A group of students, board members, staff, and district residents chose the name to include “Lincoln’s View,” a reference to the Lincoln Highway dividing the new school district. The district adopted the nickname “Lancers,” with blue, white, and gold becoming the district’s school colors. Lincolnview Local Schools’ first graduating class was in 1961.
The district boasts a recently renovated elementary building constructed in 1999 and a newly constructed junior/senior high school completed in September 2008 through the partnership of the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC). The total cost of the project was around $17 million. The buildings also have enhanced technology, updated accessibility, security, life safety equipment, efficient heating and air conditioning throughout the building, and outstanding classroom space built to OSFC standards.
The district has a $4.5 million, 35,000 square-foot facility called the “Lincolnview Community Center.” This center provides residents of the Lincolnview district a place where they can attend meetings, walk and/or run on an indoor track, and weight room, use of three indoor basketball/volleyball courts, play pickle-ball, and use a soccer court. Unlike any other in Northwest Ohio, it is a state-of-the-art facility to enhanced the Lincolnview community for many years.
Lincolnview Local Schools currently serves the academic needs of around 900 students in grades K-12 who are residents of the district and many open-enrolled students from other districts. The elementary school has students in grades K-6 and is on the same campus as Lincolnview Jr. and Sr. High School, grades seven-12, with all students under one roof.
Lincolnview students receive a comprehensive program in the core subjects of mathematics, language arts, social studies, and sciences and opportunities in physical, special, and gifted education. Instrumental and vocal music is offered to students in grades five – 12. Students in grades seven – 12 also have the opportunity to take classes in health, weight training, drafting, environmental science, graphic arts, drawing and painting, sculpture, yearbook, newspaper, industrial technology, Pre-Engineering, Bio-medical, agriculture education – FFA, pop music, music ensemble, Spanish, and speech classes. Students may take courses at local colleges while still in high school, called the “College Credit Plus” program. Lincolnview Local also provides flex credit and online courses, which are available to qualifying students. Lincolnview students may also attend Vantage Career Center for career technical skills training as juniors and seniors.
From a financial perspective, the Lincolnview Local School District has always been financially prudent and has not asked for additional operating levies since 1994, the most extended period for any school district in Van Wert County (24 years). The focus has always been to maximize a budget while maintaining high-quality educational services for all students of Lincolnview Local.
Education will change in the next decade, specifically in accountability measures and instruction using 21st-century teaching skills. The objective of instruction will focus on higher learning standards in a number of areas, particularly in English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Technology skills will become increasingly apparent with a priority of online assessments. With this in mind, the Lincolnview Local Schools applied for and was awarded a $472,000 grant in 2014 called the “Straight A Fund Grant.” The grant’s focus was to increase the technological resources and promote college and career readiness opportunities to students in the 21st century. The school then implemented a 1:1 Initiative at the start of the 2014/15 school year. Students in grades five – 12 were given access to the use of Chromebooks for the school day and to allow students in grades seven – 12 the privilege of taking the device home nightly. The school also purchased K – fourth-grade mobile iPads, Dell laptops, and Learn Pad tablets/labs and installed a Macintosh computer lab in order to increase students’ capabilities to utilize multiple technological tools and resources. The innovative technology was installed in 32 classrooms to support the