The school, named for Lemon Bay, which is adjacent to the campus, opened its doors in 1962 as an elementary school. In 1976, the school became a junior-senior high school, serving grades seven through tenth. The school added eleventh and 12th grades in 1980/81 after new building was completed. The first graduating class of seniors was in 1981. The school converted to a senior high school following the construction of L.A. Ainger Middle School in 1983. A major renovation completed in 1987 gave the school a new administration wing, tennis courts, a track, and a larger weight-room, and a community swimming pool was added in 1988. In 1991, an auditorium was added and the media center was remodeled in 1993. The school has a track, football field, baseball field, softball field, tennis courts, weightlifting room, and two gymnasiams. The swimming pool was drained and filled with dirt in 2008. Later that year, the remaining concrete rim of the pool was demolished. The school was featured in the second season of The Principal's Office, a reality television show on TruTv. Assistant principal Tammy Harvey and dean Jon Arritt appeared on the show. The school was rebuilt using $80 million from stimulus funds.
The NJROTCunit was established and is maintained by the United States Navy as a citizenship program with focus on developing leadership characteristics in students. Students in NJROTC wear a modified U.S. Navy uniform once a week and must pass a physical education test once every nine weeks as part of the curriculum. Apart from traditional classwork, students are encouraged to participate in a number of extracurricular activities, including an athletic team, academic team, drill team, color guard, and a number of community service organizations including the American Legion and Rotary Club. Student leaders are in direct control of the affairs of the unit, and are supervised by two retired United States Navy instructors. The unit is a part of NJROTC Area Seven, which includes the majority of schools with NJROTC programs in the southeast United States.
The Model United Nations club on campus focuses on involving students in a moot form of international debate. The club participates in a number of competitions against schools statewide, and has achieved success in a number of these competitions, including at the University of Florida, University of Central Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University, and the Florida High School Model United Nations. The school was also a founding member of the competition held at Florida Gulf Coast University, the Southwest Florida Model United Nations Competition. The club also participates in many charitable causes.
Theater arts
The theater program at Lemon Bay High School allows students to participate in a number of productions by enrolling in an elective class. Students produce several productions during the school year, including musicals during the summer and winter in which elementary and junior high students participate. Previous productions have included: Kiss Me, Kate, The Sound of Music, West Side Story,The Music Man, Anything Goes, Seussical the Musical, Les Misérables, Swing!, Carousel, Hello, Dolly!, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Aida, Oklahoma!, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cats, Grease, The Wedding Singer, Beautiful, Footloose, South Pacific and most recently How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. The thespian troupe 05-257 at the school has also achieved success at the district, state, and national level. The theater program will be performing The Glass Menagerie and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee during the 2014-2015 school year. Along with The Crucible, and Little Shop of Horrors in the 2015-2016 school year.
Music programs
The school's band is made up of a marching band, symphonic band, percussion ensemble, and jazz band. The marching band, known as the Marching Mantas, performs a half-time show during school football games, and competes against other schools at statewide competitions. The symphonic band consists of only wind, brass and percussion instruments, with no string section or string players participating. Both the symphonic and jazz bands are rated on their progress and quality of performance each year by their district Florida Bandmaster's Association. Students may participate in the symphonic and jazz bands by enrolling in an elective class and may participate in the marching band and percussion ensemble as extracurricular activities without a required class. The Marching Mantas participated in the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida in January 2007.
Athletics
Fall season sports at LBHS include junior varsity and varsity football, golf, volleyball, cheerleading, and cross country running. During the winter season, sports include soccer, basketball and wrestling. During the spring season, students can participate in baseball, softball, tennis, track and field and weightlifting. Lemon Bay has long-standing rivalries with nearby Venice, Charlotte and Port Charlotte high schools. Lemon bay wrestling also has two state championships in 1997 and 1998.
