page_title: Martinsville High School (Virginia)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Martinsville High School (Virginia) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Class of 1912, Martinsville High School, Martinsville, Virginia (retouched by MarmadukePercy).
context_page_description: Martinsville High School is a public high school located in Martinsville, Virginia. It is the only high school in the Martinsville public school system. It offers such programs as the International Baccalaureate, Piedmont Regional Governor's School, Advanced Placement, and Dual Enrollment classes. During the 2006–2007 school year, a joint program, with the assistance of Patrick Henry Community College, allowed a select group of juniors and seniors an opportunity to earn their associate degrees before graduation.
  Academically, the school performed below the state average during the 2010–2011 school year, failing to satisfy its Adequate Yearly Progress requirement and recording failure rates in the Virginia Standards of Learning of 22% in mathematics, 20% in both writing and science, and 32% in history. The school also experienced an increase in safety concerns during the 2010–2011 school year.
context_section_description: The second Martinsville High School building was completed in 1939 on Cleveland Avenue, and it was used until the newer building was completed in the late 1960s. The last graduating class at the older building was in 1968.
  Margaret Shumate Hadden, class of 1941, often spoke about her days there at the older building. "In high school I took the regular courses, English, history, math, Latin, home economics, chemistry and many other subjects."
  One notable feature of the second high school building was a large tube-shaped fire escape, that had an enclosed circular and spiral slide inside. During fire drills, students in the upper floors would climb in and then slide down to the bottom exit. The fire escape was also used in numerous student challenges and pranks.
  The original high school building in Martinsville was started in 1871. Dr. Ruffner was the first superintendent of schools in Henry County, and the first high school was named in his honor as "The Ruffner Institute", until 1904, when the school was re-named "Martinsville High School". The 1900 graduating class were called "Mavahi", short for "Martinsville High School".
caption: Graduating class of Martinsville High School, Martinsville, Virginia.  1912.
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