About Us
Mr. Blankenship, Director of Schools presented Level 4 Award to Principal, Mr. Hicks.
THE HISTORY OF RURAL VALE SCHOOL
The Rural Vale Community has a long interesting history beginning with the Indians who were uprooted and moved to the West along the Trail of Tears. As the white settlers entered the community, many became slave owners due to the geography, which allowed for large farming to take place.
The community is located in a valley surrounded by mountains. The largest is Starr Mountain, which sits west of the school and has White Cliff, a beautiful place to view the valley. The White Cliff Hotel was a historical place that brought visitors from all over the eastern United States. They would travel by train to Athens, TN, and would ride in a horse-drawn buggy to Starr Mountain’s White Cliff Hotel in search of a presumed fountain of youth.
Conasauga Creek is the area’s largest body of flowing water. Several springs flow into surrounding creeks, which feed the Conasauga. Once a boiling spring flowed under the school. The water was 99% pure. The spring made so much noise that the owners then put twenty or more loads of rock in it so they could sleep at night. The current owners built a facility around the spring to bottle the water.
The original Rural Vale School was built about one mile from the present location and was a one-room building. When the building burned, another building consisting of two rooms was constructed. It stayed in operation until Spring, 1956. In the fall of 1956, a new Rural Vale School located at 395 Daugherty Springs Road, just off highway 315 was opened. The building consisted of six classrooms and a gymnasium / lunchroom combination. Grades one through eight were in these classrooms. Surrounding small schools such as Holly Springs, Bullet Creek, Brown Hill, and Beaty’s Chapel were consolidated into Rural Vale.
Since 1956 the school has employed eight principals. The first being Glenice Hooper, and the current one being Dennis Hicks , a former Rural Vale student. Currently there are thirteen teachers along with a full time librarian, P.E. and resource teachers. We currently have a full time RN and SRO officer. The average enrollment of the school has been 240 - 265 students. The present enrollment is 256 students.
In 1974 Kindergarten began at Rural Vale, which made it a K-8 school. Through the years there has been an increase in student population whereby additional classrooms were needed. Three outside classrooms were added to accommodate the growing student population in the community.
The first addition was in May 1997, five classrooms, a library, a computer lab, teachers’ workstation and a new office. This doubled the size of the school.
The Rural Vale Community has a long interesting history beginning with the Indians who were uprooted and moved to the West along the Trail of Tears. As the white settlers entered the community, many became slave owners due to the geography, which allowed for large farming to take place.
The community is located in a valley surrounded by mountains. The largest is Starr Mountain, which sits west of the school and has White Cliff, a beautiful place to view the valley. The White Cliff Hotel was a historical place that brought visitors from all over the eastern United States. They would travel by train to Athens, TN, and would ride in a horse-drawn buggy to Starr Mountain’s White Cliff Hotel in search of a presumed fountain of youth.
Conasauga Creek is the area’s largest body of flowing water. Several springs flow into surrounding creeks, which feed the Conasauga. Once a boiling spring flowed under the school. The water was 99% pure. The spring made so much noise that the owners then put twenty or more loads of rock in it so they could sleep at night. The current owners built a facility around the spring to bottle the water.
The original Rural Vale School was built about one mile from the present location and was a one-room building. When the building burned, another building consisting of two rooms was constructed. It stayed in operation until Spring, 1956. In the fall of 1956, a new Rural Vale School located at 395 Daugherty Springs Road, just off highway 315 was opened. The building consisted of six classrooms and a gymnasium / lunchroom combination. Grades one through eight were in these classrooms. Surrounding small schools such as Holly Springs, Bullet Creek, Brown Hill, and Beaty’s Chapel were consolidated into Rural Vale.
Since 1956 the school has employed eight principals. The first being Glenice Hooper, and the current one being Dennis Hicks , a former Rural Vale student. Currently there are thirteen teachers along with a full time librarian, P.E. and resource teachers. We currently have a full time RN and SRO officer. The average enrollment of the school has been 240 - 265 students. The present enrollment is 256 students.
In 1974 Kindergarten began at Rural Vale, which made it a K-8 school. Through the years there has been an increase in student population whereby additional classrooms were needed. Three outside classrooms were added to accommodate the growing student population in the community.
The first addition was in May 1997, five classrooms, a library, a computer lab, teachers’ workstation and a new office. This doubled the size of the school.
A second addition was in August 2008, nine classrooms, gym, bigger library, science lab, and computer lab. It only took one year for the science lab to become a science classroom for grades 6-8 because of growth.
Rural Vale School has produced many brilliant students. There have been several Rural Vale students who ranked in the top ten of their graduating classes from Tellico Plains High School.
Rural Vale School has produced many brilliant students. There have been several Rural Vale students who ranked in the top ten of their graduating classes from Tellico Plains High School.