George Washington High School

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George Washington High School is a public high school in Charleston, West Virginia, United States.The school was nicknamed "The Hill", as it is located in the South Hills neighborhood, and has been referred to as "GeeDub" dating back at least to the 1970s.DistrictThe school serves the South Hills neighborhood of the city and several incorporated areas nearby. It is one of eight public high schools in Kanawha County.HistoryThe school, which opened in 1965, based on a plan developed by local educators, members of the West Virginia Department of Education, and faculty from Ohio State University. The school's ideals of "self-direction", flexible scheduling and independent study, were intended to provide students with opportunities to direct themselves and to prepare them for college academic life. The high school's first graduating class (who attended high school entirely at George Washington High) included fifteen National Merit Scholar finalists.In 1974 George Washington High School became involved in a notable textbook controversy, the so-called "Battle of the Books". In order to comply with a 1970 mandate to provide multicultural reading material, the board of education for Kanawha County took up a motion to purchase 300 different titles of new language arts textbooks. The titles included Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. After a public outcry, the board decided to not purchase the books, but community was still in turmoil. In September, students at George Washington High School began a 30-day walk out in protest of the removal of the books. By November the school voted that all but one of the books be returned to the schools.