In the early 1900s the land bordering Mud Lake was just being settled.  In 1910 fillings were made for water from the Mud Lake on the northwest side, a place that became known as Level (named so because the settlers considered the land to be so "level").  In 1913 the first Level School was in a small log cabin on the southwest corner of what later became the Fish and Game Farm.  In spring of 1915 the school was condemned because of the water from the lake.  Even though the building had been diked, the water was all around the dike and the students often had to cross a plank to get into the school.

According to the book "Mud Lake Memories", in the spring of 1915 the district built 3 small blue schoolhouses for the Mud Lake area.  One was moved to the corner of the Jernberg homestead 2 mile west of the original log schoolhouse as it was not considered safe to continue to hold school so near the lake.  It was known as the Level School.  A second schoolhouse was put in the Monteview area near what became the Joe Hartwell farm.  It became known as the Wagoner School.  The third building was placed at the community then known as Owsley on the corner of the present-day Mud Lake Fair and Rodeo grounds.  However, the Owsley School was only used until December because the teacher, Margaret Miller, got married to Earle Jackson during Christmas vacation.

In 1918, the first Terreton School was established.  It was first held in a log building from the Joe Potter home.  That school was abandoned in 1919 and in 1920 a frame schoolhouse was built on the lot where the present day Terreton Elementary School is located.

Monteview residents voted to build the Spring Lake School in 1919.  It was built near the old Monteview Post Office.  When the Wagoner school was discontinued after 1922 the students were sent to either the Level School or the Spring Lake School.  At Level, Bessie Hutchison was the teacher and Cleo Dunn Jernberg was hired to assist her.  Later, the one room was partitioned, and 2 teachers were hired.  

In 1923 a small school was build on what became the Larry Lee farm and was known as the Lakeview School.  The Lakeview School was closed in 1932, and the building was moved to the Terreton School site.  During the summer of 1933 the Monteview School was consolidated with the Level School.  In 1945 the Level School was consolidated with the Terreton School. The Level schoolhouse was later moved to Terreton for a lunchroom, but it burned down in 1961. 

During the early years, a few teachers at both the Level and Terreton schools had offered 9th and 10th grade classes, but most students had to board in order to attend high school away from home.  When School District #251 was created it consolidated 8 independent and rural high schools:  Terreton, Heise, Level, Labell, Lorenzo, Clark, Grant, Poplar Joint, and Renox.  Hamer was independent school district 1, consisting of schools from Hamer, Roberts, Menan Joint, Rigby, Lewisville, Midway, Rural, and Ririe Joint.  The Hamer high school was discontinued, and in 1936 Terreton and Roberts formed an agreement and high school students from Terreton and Hamer were bussed to Roberts to attend school.   The increasing number of high school students near Terreton and the unsafe conditions in the winter resulted in the West Jefferson High School being built in Terreton in 1956.  The first graduating class of West Jefferson High School was the class of 1957. 

Roberts High School was discontinued in 1968 over strong protests.  Students from Roberts were given the choice of going to either West Jefferson High School or Rigby High School.  (The Midway High School was not an option as it was burned in 1949 and never rebuilt.)  In 1964 Ririe formed School District #252.  Then, in 1984 after years of discontent West Jefferson established their own School District #253.