About Us

Welcome to Van Hise Elementary School!

At Van Hise, we embrace partnering with our families and community to support all members feeling valued and involved in their children’s education.

Our school’s equity vision is “At Van Hise We All Belong: Creating a Welcoming School by lifting Student, Family, Staff and Community voice to build relationships that support academic excellence.”

At Van Hise, we create a nurturing, disciplined, and challenging environment in which all students can learn at optimum levels and graduate college, career, and community ready.

Van Hise Elementary is a quiet K-5 neighborhood school in the University Hill Farms area on the near west side of Madison. The campus is shared with Velma Hamilton Middle School.

Charles R. Van Hise

Our school’s namesake is a person that is, in many ways, a little known hero of resource conservation. Charles R. Van Hise is probably known best for leading the University of Wisconsin-Madison during the Progressive Era at the birth of the 20th Century. Van Hise was also a major contributor to conservation in the United States and the world. His 1910 book, Conservation of Natural Resources in the United States, is recognized as one of the most important works in the history of conservation. It was the most respected, influential and often-cited general survey of conservation issues published in its time. In the book, Van Hise pointed the finger at individualism for depletion of natural resources. He called for living in a way that does not diminish the quality of life for unborn generations.