Lakeview Academy is a coeducational, private, college-preparatory school day school in Gainesville, Georgia, United States, for Pre-K to twelfth grade students. It was established in 1970.
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Description
Lakeview has a preschool/kindergarten program, lower school (grades first through fifth), middle school (grades six through eight), and upper school (grades nine through twelve). A nonprofit, it is accredited by the Southern Association of Independent Schools and the National Association of Independent Schools.
Built on a little over 90-acre campus, Lakeview facilities include preschool, lower school, middle school, and upper school division buildings, athletic complexes, a fine arts annex and a common student center. The 17,000-square-foot, two-story middle school building opened in 2017. The school also constructed a $2.5 million football stadium and athletic facility in 2020. Construction on a new $6.6 million fine arts center began in June 2024 with plans to open for the 2025-26 school year.
Curriculum
Lakeview Academy offers college preparatory courses, including seventeen advanced placement courses and nine honors courses.
Fine arts courses include painting and drawing, sculpture and ceramics, photography, digital arts, theater, speech, drama, chorus, string orchestra, and band, as well as on-campus private music lessons.
Robotics classes are available in Singleton Hall.
Co-curricular activities
The school's robotics team competes in regional and statewide tournaments.
Lakeview Academy won the Georgia High School Association one-act play state title consecutively from 2013 to 2017. The title was subsequently lost in 2018, and brought back in 2021 with their production of Monty Python's Spamalot.
Lakeview Academy won the GHSA Region Literary Championship in 2017, placing first in six categories, and won the region championship 13 times from 2002–2017.
History
From 1960 to 1970, public schools in Hall County were undergoing court ordered integration of public schools. In 1969, with the closure of Butler High School, Black students in Gainesville were integrated among the three remaining high schools.
Physician Robert Tether helped charter Gainesville Academy as a private college preparatory school on August 21, 1968, appealing to parents who "wanted to form a new school that could give their kids a chance to be accepted into the college of their choice", according to Tether's son Rusty. After a year of fund-raising, the Gainesville Academy opened on North Bradford Street in September 1969, with classes for sixth- and seventh-graders. In 1970, it was advertised as "open to all who meet the acceptance criteria and pass the entrance examination, regardless of race, creed, or color".
The academy was "initially providing Gainesville parents with an integration-free environment for their children", according to social historian Thomas Rasmussen. Author Winfred E. Pitts wrote, "Lakeview Academy, established in 1970 in response to desegregation, continues to grow as an almost exclusively white private school." Based on interviews of the former superintendent and assistant superintendent of Gainesville's public schools, Pitts wote that although they each emphasized they could not prove it, "both of the men believe the founding of Lakeview Academy was racially motivated; that is, to keep Whites and Blacks in segregated schools". (In January 2005, Lakeview advertised in Atlantic Magazine that its enrollment of 530 included 12% students of color. In the 2019–2020 school year the student population was 93.8% White, 2.4% Asian, 2% Hispanic, and 1.7% Black.)
Construction on "12 classrooms, a library and office" began in 1970 on Lakeview Drive. The first headmaster was Woodrow Light, who officiated on August 22, 1970, at the dedication of the school renamed Lakeview Academy. It had 87 students in first through ninth grades. Headmaster Light wrote, "We began the school year in September with eighty-seven students. The response from students, parents, trustees and friends has been so tremendous that our enrollment has steadily increased to ninety-six with additional applications pending." Enrollment at the end of that first school year surpassed 100 students.
Work on the upper school building was completed in 1973, and then work started on the gym. Enrollment at the end of the school year 1973–1974 was 219, and five students were the first graduates.
Athletics
Formerly a GHSA member, in 2022 Lakeview Academy changed to a Class AAA member of the Georgia Independent Athletic Association.
Lakeview Academy's Deuce Roark coached his 300th career coaching victory on March 4, 2025.
Lakeview Academy Varsity Girls Basketball wins second straight GIAA Class 3A State Championship Title in 2025. Lakeview's Varsity Boys Basketball team makes history with GIAA Class 3A State Championship title in 2024. Lakeview Varsity Girls Basketball also claimed the GIAA 3A State Championship Title in 2024, their first state title ever.
Basketball athlete Reno Earls was "a trailblazer, as one of the first black players at Lakeview Academy... one of the best in Hall County in the 1990s. He finished his career with the Lions in 1995 with a school-record 2,041 points." Earls died at age 44 in 2022, of complications due to COVID.
Robotics and STEM
In 2024, Lakeview Academy was recognized by the nonprofit FIRST as one of 10 schools nationwide to receive its inaugural recognition for robotics education. The school offers robotics programs beginning in elementary school, and its varsity FIRST Tech Challenge team qualified for the world championship in 2023.
Fine Arts
One Act Play Championships: GHSA - 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, One Act Play Championships: GISA: 2024, 2025
Literary Champions: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2026
Notable alumni
Zac Brown, musician
Ralston Cash, professional baseball player
Dakota Chalmers, professional baseball player
Matt Dubnik, member of Georgia House of Representatives
Patrick Phillips, poet, professor, and translator