Medical Lake High School was founded in 1905, in Medical Lake, Washington. In 1958, the high school was refounded and moved into a new building, but then was added on to in 1970 to encompass the growing number of students being enrolled.
In 2017, a Medical Lake High school student was investigated for a Google Drive filled with sexually explicit pictures of other students with the youngest victim being 14.[5] In February 2018, a threat was made against the school by a student and was investigated by the Spokane County Sheriff's Office.[6] A few months later in April 2018, a Medical Lake student was killed while three other students were injured in a car crash when headed to a track meet.[7] This started the #MedicalLakeStrong movement in Spokane, with schools such as Freeman High School and Shadle Park High School offering their support and solidarity.
That June, the district announced that they had received a one million dollar STEM grant and that the high school students would be receiving their own personal Chromebooks that September.[8] In November 2021, a bombing threat against Medical Lake High School was exposed.[9]
Enrollment has declined within the Medical Lake School District[3] and is expected to continue. A contributing factor has been the privatization of base housing at Fairchild Air Force Base; an increasing number of military families have chosen to live off-base and outside the M.L. school district. A building moratorium by the city of Medical Lake and a sluggish economy have also contributed.[10]
MLHS grew in the 1970s from 487 in 1970[11] to 650 in 1978,[12] but declined in the early 1980s to below 500 in 1983 and athletics dropped from the 'AA' Frontier League and returned to the 'A' NEA in 1984.[13] Enrollment was 675 in October 2007, but fell to 512 in four grades in May 2012.[3] As of 2021, the current enrollment number is 517.[14]
Medical Lake athletic teams compete in WIAA Class 1A in District 7. MLHS was a member of the Great Northern League (GNL) in class 2A since its inception in 1998,[15] but dropped out of the GNL for football in 2010.[10] The school dropped to class 1A in the summer of 2012;[16] and returned to the Northeast 'A' League (NEA).[17]
