Vel Phillips Memorial High School | |
---|---|
Address | |
201 South Gammon Road , 53717 United States | |
Coordinates | 43°03′49″N89°30′03″W / 43.06374°N 89.50079°W |
Information | |
Former name | James Madison Memorial High School (1966-2021) |
Type | Public high school |
Established | 1966 |
School district | Madison Metropolitan School District |
NCES School ID | 550852000937 [1] |
Principal | Matt Hendrickson |
Teaching staff | 124.50 (on an FTE basis) [2] |
Grades | 9–12 |
Enrollment | 2,025 (2023-2024) [2] |
Student to teacher ratio | 16.65 [2] |
Color(s) | Green and White |
Athletics conference | Big Eight Conference |
Mascot | Bruce the Spartan |
Newspaper | The Sword and Shield |
Yearbook | The Olympian |
Website | memorial |
Vel Phillips Memorial High School (formerly James Madison Memorial High School (JMM) ) or simply "VPM" is a public high school on the west side of Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was built in 1966 and is part of the Madison Metropolitan School District. It is home to the MMSD Planetarium.
The school is named after Vel Phillips, an American attorney, politician, jurist, and Civil Rights activist, who served as the first female alderperson and judge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and as Secretary of State of Wisconsin (1979-1983).
The school was originally built in 1966 but received a major addition in 1967 because the school's population was higher than expected. The A-Wing housed the senior high and B-Wing the junior high. It was not until the 1970s that Thomas Jefferson Middle School (now Ezekiel Gillespie) was built. A fieldhouse was added in 1992.
On February 11, 2014, principal Bruce Dahmen unexpectedly died from a heart attack while on a field trip with students. A memorial service was held in the main gym. [3] The welcome center was named after Dahmen.
Starting in May 2022 and ending in August 2024, the school went under an extensive renovation as part of a referendum passed in the fall of 2020. [4]
In 2022, the school was renamed as Vel Phillips Memorial High School by the Madison Metropolitan School District board after concern was raised by the public over James Madison's ownership of enslaved people, following a petition started by a student in 2017. Only one year later, the adjacent Thomas Jefferson Middle School was renamed as Ezekiel Gillespie Middle School. [ citation needed ]
Memorial offers classes ranging from Algebra 1 to Photography. Chinese, German, French and Spanish are some of their language classes. [5]
The school also hosts the Madison school district's planetarium and offers an Astronomy class. [6]
In 2001, Memorial received a U.S. Department of Education Small Learning Communities federal grant to support a "neighborhood" reorganization. [7] The four neighborhoods are Rock, Wolf, Fox, and Wisconsin . [7] Each of the neighborhoods have a neighborhood center. The Fox Neighborhood Center is known by the students and staff as the "fishbowl".
The official school newspaper is The Sword and Shield and until 2014 kept all issues online. [8] Independent newspapers, The Spartacus and Aficionado existed at one time, but have all ceased distribution. The Independent was created after the 1990–91 school year by The Sword and Shield staff.
Memorial offers interscholastic sports [9] and extramural activities. .[ citation needed ]
Marquette University High School (MUHS) is a private, all-male, Jesuit school located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Aquinas High School is a Roman Catholic high school located in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The school is part of La Crosse Aquinas Catholic Schools and is operated by the Diocese of La Crosse.
Waukesha West High School is one of three public high schools located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The high school was established in 1993.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) is the regulatory body for all high school sports in Wisconsin. Its history dates to 1895, making it the earliest continually existing high school athletic organization in the country. It also provides the licensing program for more than 10,000 officials in the state, and oversees junior high or middle school athletics in about 100 of the state's nearly 400 school districts. Among its duties are the administration of state tournament series in its various sports, overseeing eligibility and conference alignment, and promoting sportsmanship.
Arrowhead High School is a high school located in Merton Town, Wisconsin. Sitting on 117 acres (0.47 km2) of land, the school has two campuses, a north campus and a south campus. Juniors and seniors attend the north campus, while freshmen and sophomores attend the south campus.
Kettle Moraine High School (KMHS) is a secondary school located in Wales, Wisconsin. It is a part of the Kettle Moraine School District.
Middleton High School is a public secondary school located in the city of Middleton, Wisconsin. It was established in 1879. Part of the Middleton-Cross Plains School District, the school serves more than 2,000 students in grades 9 to 12 from the Middleton and Cross Plains areas. Middleton High School's mascot is the cardinal. The school colors are white and cardinal red. Its athletic teams play at the WIAA Division 1 level in the WIAA Big Eight Conference. Middleton High School is often praised for having highly rated STEM and athletics programs.
Grafton High School is a secondary school in Grafton, Wisconsin. It is part of the Grafton School District. The only public high school in Grafton, it has a student enrollment of around 700.
Brookfield Central High School is a comprehensive public secondary school located in the city of Brookfield, Wisconsin, United States. About 1200 students attend every year. It is a sister school to Brookfield East High School, also in Brookfield. The high school is administered by the Elmbrook School District, which operates nine schools in Brookfield and Elm Grove.
Sun Prairie East High School (SPEHS) is a public high school in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, United States. It is one of two high schools in the Sun Prairie Area School District, the other being Sun Prairie West High School. During the 2022-2023 school year, there were 1,365 students at Sun Prairie East High School. SPEHS is a WIAA Division 1 school and is a member of the Big Eight athletic conference in all sports except for football, in which it is a WIAA Division 2 school and a member of the Badger Conference.
Ice hockey is a popular sport in the state of Wisconsin. Ninety high schools field sanctioned varsity teams competing in the Wisconsin Hockey Prep (WiHP) leagues of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA). Eight "club" non-sanctioned Wisconsin High School Hockey teams compete in the Wisconsin Amateur Hockey Association.
Edgewood High School of the Sacred Heart is a private, Catholic, college preparatory school located in Madison, Wisconsin. Edgewood has been sponsored since its inception by the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. In the 2019–2020 school year, it enrolled 476 students. Also on the Edgewood campus are Edgewood College and Edgewood Campus School, an elementary and middle school.
The Classic 8 Conference, also known as the C8C, is a high school athletic conference made up of 9 teams in southeastern Wisconsin. The Classic 8 Conference is a member of the WIAA. The conference has schools that participate in such sports as lacrosse, field hockey, alpine skiing, boys ice hockey, girls ice hockey, and cross-country skiing.
Verona Area High School (VAHS) is a high school in Verona, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Verona Area School District.
Harold S. Vincent High School, colloquially known as just Vincent, is a public high school located on 7501 North Granville Road in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The school is part of the Milwaukee Public Schools. Vincent's official student enrollment is 744 for the 2022-2023 school year. Vincent's student enrollment was 1,630 during the 2004–2005 school year. The school has several sports teams including football, basketball, and track & field.
The Coulee Conference is a seven-member high school athletic conference in the La Crosse, Wisconsin area. It was founded in 1926 and is affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. Conference schools have enrollments ranging from 236 to 540, with an average enrollment of 395.
The Kimberly High School in Kimberly, Wisconsin, is a public high school that enrolls around 1,600 students. It is the only high school in the Kimberly Area School District. The school has 117 certified teaching staff and 5 guidance counselors.
Sheboygan Falls High School is a public high school located in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. It serves students in grades 9 through 12. The school colors are purple and gold and they are referred to as the "Falcons."
Fall Creek High School is a high school located in Fall Creek, Wisconsin, United States. It serves grades 9–12 and is part of the Fall Creek School District.
Sun Prairie West High School (SPWHS) is a high school in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, United States. It is one of two high schools in the Sun Prairie Area School District, the other being Sun Prairie East High School. During the 2023-2024 school year, there were 1,347 students at Sun Prairie West High School. SPWHS is a WIAA Division 1 school and is a member of the Big Eight athletic conference in all sports except for football, in which it is a WIAA Division 2 school and a member of the Badger Conference.