Lafayette High School: Kentucky's Highest-Ranked Public High School (Of Lexington's Six)

Lafayette High School is the highest-ranked traditional FCPS public high school in U.S. News' 2025-26 rankings, sitting at #15 in Kentucky. Opened in 1939 and named for the French general who fought in the American Revolutionary War, the Generals have built one of the most decorated athletic and academic programs in Kentucky high school history, including six boys basketball state championships, multiple Kentucky Governor's Cup academic championships, and a list of notable alumni that includes two Kentucky governors, an Olympic sprinter, an actor, golf legends, and a Kentucky Derby-winning horse trainer. Lafayette is also the home campus of SCAPA (the School for the Creative and Performing Arts), the district's flagship arts magnet program.

This guide covers Lafayette's history, programs, athletics, notable alumni, and where it sits in Lexington's school landscape. If you're researching FCPS more broadly, start with the Lexington Schools Guide. For other individual school pages, see Henry Clay High School, Frederick Douglass High School, and Bryan Station High School.

Quick Facts

• Address: 401 Reed Lane, Lexington, KY 40503
• District: Fayette County Public Schools
• Established: 1939 (replaced Picadome High School)
• Mascot: Generals
• Colors: Red and white
• Enrollment: Roughly 2,300 students (recently the largest high school in Kentucky)
• Student-teacher ratio: Roughly 17 to 1
• U.S. News 2025-26 Kentucky ranking: #15 (highest of FCPS's six traditional high schools)
• Specialty programs: SCAPA, Pre-Engineering Program
• Website: lafayette.fcps.net

History and Name

Lafayette opened in 1939 on a Reed Lane site that had previously held an orphanage. The building was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), one of the New Deal-era federal programs that put unemployed Americans to work during the Great Depression. The school was founded to replace the older Picadome High School, but Lafayette retained Picadome's Kentucky High School Athletic Association membership, which dates to 1924.

The school is named for Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, the French general who became a hero of the American Revolutionary War and a lifelong friend of George Washington. The Marquis de Lafayette's family granted the school permission to use the Lafayette family Coat of Arms as the school's official logo, making Lafayette one of the few American public high schools with a direct heraldic tie to a French aristocratic family. The mascot, the Generals, is a nod to Lafayette's military service.

A mansion called "The Elms" originally shared the school's property. The Elms burned down a few months into Lafayette's first school year in 1939.

In 1940, less than a year after opening, the school expanded its vocational program into a national defense trade school in response to Pearl Harbor and U.S. entry into World War II.

In 1955, Lafayette became the first white school in Lexington to be racially integrated. Helen Caise Wade, a student at Lexington's then all-Black Douglass High School, took a summer school course at Lafayette in U.S. history. The school graduated its first African American student in 1958. This is a meaningful piece of Lexington civil rights history.

Programs and Academics

Lafayette has earned a long-standing reputation for academic strength, and the school's specialty programs are central to its identity.

SCAPA (School for the Creative and Performing Arts). SCAPA is the district's flagship arts magnet program, and Lafayette's campus is its high school home. SCAPA at Lafayette serves grades 9-11 with concentrations in Literary Arts and Guitar (the broader SCAPA at Bluegrass program serves grades 4-8 with a wider range of disciplines including ballet, contemporary dance, drama, piano, strings, voice, band, and creative writing). SCAPA enrollment requires audition or portfolio review. Lafayette's SCAPA students have brought home recent recognition including a "Best Show" nod at the Southeastern Theatre Conference for James and the Giant Peach.

Pre-Engineering Program. A career-track program designed to prepare students for fields like engineering, architecture, medicine, computer programming, mathematics, biology, chemistry, and physics. Heavy on math and applied sciences.

Academic team excellence. Lafayette's academic team is one of the most decorated in Kentucky:

• 1985: Tied for national championship in the Knowledge Master Open competition
• 1986 and 1987: Won the Kentucky Governor's Cup, often viewed as Kentucky's state academic championship
• Many National Merit Finalists across the decades

Student journalism. The Lafayette Times (newspaper) and The Marquis (yearbook) have won numerous awards for excellence in scholastic journalism.

Athletics

Lafayette's athletic teams have been among the most successful in Kentucky history.

Boys basketball dynasty. Lafayette boys basketball has won six state championships: 1941, 1950, 1953, 1957, 1979, and 2001. This is tied with rival Henry Clay for the most boys basketball state titles in Kentucky history. The 1950s era under legendary coach Ralph Carlisle was a particular peak (titles in 1950, 1953, and 1957). Through the 2007-08 season, Lafayette boys basketball had compiled more than 1,200 program wins, ranking near the top of Kentucky's all-time list.

Suddler Shield awards. Lafayette's marching band has won two Suddler Shield Awards for Marching Band Excellence, one of the most prestigious national awards in scholastic marching arts.

KHSAA titles across many sports. Beyond basketball, Lafayette has won KHSAA state championships in baseball, boys and girls soccer, boys track, boys cross country, boys and girls gymnastics, boys and girls swimming, boys and girls golf, and boys and girls tennis.

eSports champions. Lafayette won the 2026 eSports Championship, one of Kentucky's first formal scholastic eSports titles.

Notable Alumni

Lafayette's alumni list includes some of Kentucky's most prominent figures across politics, sports, entertainment, the arts, and civil rights history. The school proudly hangs banners of many of these alumni in its hallways.

Politics and Public Service:

John Y. Brown Jr. Governor of Kentucky from 1979 to 1983. Before politics, Brown made his fortune as a co-owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken: he and his partner purchased the franchise from Colonel Harland Sanders in 1964 and built it into a global brand. Brown was married to Phyllis George, the former Miss America and CBS NFL Today host.

Ernie Fletcher. Governor of Kentucky from 2003 to 2007. A medical doctor and former U.S. Air Force pilot, Fletcher served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected Kentucky's first Republican governor in 32 years.

Sports:

Tyson Gay. Olympic sprinter and former American record holder in the 100-meter dash at 9.69 seconds. Gay was the 2007 World Champion in both the 100m and 200m. He competed at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the 4x100m relay at the 2012 London Games.

Gay Brewer. Professional golfer who won the 1967 Masters Tournament and earned 11 PGA Tour victories during his career.

Myra Vanhoose Blackwelder. Professional golfer on the LPGA Tour.

Austin Kearns. Major League Baseball outfielder from 2002 to 2013, playing primarily for the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals.

Eric Reed (Class of 1982). Thoroughbred horse trainer. His horse Rich Strike won the 2022 Kentucky Derby in one of the largest upsets in Derby history, at odds of 80 to 1.

Entertainment and Arts:

Jim Varney. Actor best known for his Ernest P. Worrell character in a series of comedy films including "Ernest Goes to Camp" and "Ernest Saves Christmas," along with decades of commercials. He also voiced Slinky Dog in Pixar's Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999). Died in 2000.

Loren Long (Class of 1981). New York Times bestselling picture book illustrator and author, creator of the popular Otis the Tractor series and many other children's books.

Civil Rights History:

Helen Caise Wade. In 1955, became the first African American student to attend Lafayette High School, making her a pioneer in Lexington school integration history. She had been a student at the then-segregated Douglass High School before taking a summer course in U.S. History at Lafayette.

Which Neighborhoods Feed Into Lafayette

Lafayette serves the south and southwest portion of Lexington. Specific zoning varies by exact address.

• Parts of Downtown Lexington: Some peripheral downtown blocks feed into Lafayette rather than Henry Clay, particularly those closer to South Limestone and the University of Kentucky campus.
• South-side residential areas: Lafayette serves most of the residential neighborhoods south of downtown including Beaumont, Cardinal Valley, parts of Lansdowne, Stonewall, and surrounding areas. These specific neighborhoods aren't currently covered on this site but feed into Lafayette by default zoning.
• Areas near Reed Lane and Clay's Mill Road: Addresses on or near the school itself naturally feed into Lafayette.

Because boundary lines vary by exact address and have shifted with recent rezonings (including the 2025 Britton Middle School rezoning, which mostly affected eastern Lexington but had some ripple effects district-wide), always verify your specific address with the FCPS SchoolSite Locator.

How to Learn More

To verify your specific address is zoned for Lafayette, use the FCPS SchoolSite Locator.

For current programs, teachers, and recent news, visit the school website at lafayette.fcps.net.

For the broader district context, see the Lexington Schools Guide.

For other individual school pages, see Henry Clay High School, Frederick Douglass High School, and Bryan Station High School. More school pages will be added to this site over time.

For neighborhood research, the neighborhoods section of this site covers Lexington neighborhoods in detail.