The AA Blue Ridge District is a district in the Region III of the Virginia High School League. The district is named for the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are nearby all of the schools. From the late 1980s through the early 2000s, the district steadily grew as four schools dropped in classification from the former AAA Roanoke Valley District. Two schools entered after the AA New River Valley District disbanded when other schools dropped in classification to Group A. For the 2002-2003 school year, the student body of Group AAA Cave Spring High School in Roanoke County was split into two Group AA sized schools with the opening of Hidden Valley High School. These two new schools gave the district eleven members that year except in football, where Cave Spring remained in AAA and Hidden Valley did not play a full schedule. It was necessary to separate the district for the 2003-2004 school year. The name Blue Ridge District remained with this group of schools because Alleghany, Lord Botetourt, and William Byrd had the longest tenures in the district. The other group of six schools formed the AA River Ridge District. The district only has four members starting in the 2007-2008 school year when William Fleming returns to Group AAA, but it will have five members again starting in the 2009-2010 school year when former member Staunton River returns from the AA Seminole District.
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