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).

History

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. 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. 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.

Academics

Memorial offers classes ranging from Algebra 1 to Photography. Chinese, German, French and Spanish are some of their language classes. The school also hosts the Madison school district's planetarium and offers an Astronomy class.

Small Learning Communities grant

In 2001, Memorial received a U.S. Department of Education Small Learning Communities federal grant to support a "neighborhood" reorganization. The four neighborhoods are Rock, Wolf, Fox, and Wisconsin. Each of the neighborhoods have a neighborhood center. The Fox Neighborhood Center is known by the students and staff as the "fishbowl".

School newspapers

The official school newspaper is The Sword and Shield and until 2014 kept all issues online. 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.

Extracurricular activities

Memorial offers interscholastic sports and extramural activities. .

Athletics

Baseball

Basketball (boys)

Cross country (boys)

Soccer (boys)

Swimming and diving (boys)

Swimming and diving (girls)

Track and field (girls)

Notable alumni