ABOUT VAS 

Located in the heart of the Driftless Area, Viroqua Area Schools is surrounded by the rolling hills and scenic valleys of Vernon County in southwestern Wisconsin. Madison is 90 miles to the southeast, and La Crosse is 35 miles to the northwest.

Viroqua Area Schools serves 961 students within six schools including Viroqua Elementary School (Gr 4K-4) , Viroqua Middle School (Gr 5-8) , Viroqua High School (Gr 9-12) and three charter schools: Viroqua Area Montessori Charter School (Gr 4K-8), Laurel High School (Gr 9-12), and Vernon County Better Futures High School (Gr 10-12). We are very proud of our tradition of excellence, academic programming, and co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities available to our students and have achieved US News Awards for many years. The high schools offer eight in-person Advanced Placement (AP) Courses and many more available online and seven dual enrollment courses and two academies with Western Technical College.

Our community passed a non-recurring operational referendum question for the Viroqua Area Schools in April, 2025. With the referendum, the district will be able to exceed its state-imposed revenue limit by $1.3 million per year for the next two years. Referendums were passed in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 to exceed the revenue limit for operating expenses.

In 2022, the community passed a $20,500,000 referendum to create secure entrances at the Elementary and Middle/High School buildings, reconfigure traffic flow to improve safety and efficiency, address Americans with Disability Act (ADA) accessibility requirements, enhance underutilized classroom areas, expand tech ed classrooms and labs to support additional offerings including agriculture, woods, metals, and automotive and promote high-quality programs and hands-on learning opportunities with state-of -the-art equipment.

The James P. Bigley Pool, located on our campus, is a year-round indoor aquatic facility offering swim lessons, lap swimming, water exercise classes, and open swim for all ages. Managed by the district, the pool provides a welcoming environment for fitness, recreation, and community engagement. The Bigley Pool opened in 2003.

In response to our community’s vast need for childcare, the VAS administration and school board found an opportunity to help address this need by converting an existing building into an early learning center (ELC). We were able to purchase a former assisted living building by using district funds, one-time federal assistance and available State grants. The ELC opened on March 27, 2023.

Viroqua Area Schools is a member of the Coulee Conference. The district supports 20 interscholastic sports programs including football, volleyball, boys/girls cross country, boys/girls basketball, boys/girls wrestling, boys/girls hockey, boys/girls tennis, boys/girls golf, softball, baseball, boys/girls powerlifting, and boys/girls track. The district also provides interscholastic opportunities for middle school students in volleyball, cross country, boys/girls basketball, wrestling, and boys/girls track. There are football, baseball, and softball opportunities for middle school students and soccer for all ages in our community. Students are very involved in drama, forensics, music, eSports, FBLA, FFA, Skills USA, and Visual Arts Classic. Letters are awarded for athletics, the arts and academics.

About the Viroqua Community

The Viroqua community has a long history of supporting education. Viroqua is also home to a satellite campus for the Western Technical College. A common lobby space connects the WTC building to the McIntosh Memorial Public Library. 

Viroqua has a vibrant downtown including several well-known restaurants, a restored theater and historic hotel. The Viroqua Chamber assists with downtown revitalization, business enhancement and industrial development, seasonal farmer’s markets, music events and numerous cultural arts activities throughout the year.

The area supports a variety of recreational pursuits including hunting, fishing, skiing, hiking, ice skating, swimming, hockey, snowmobiling, golf, biking, canoeing, camping, and fitness classes. The Viroqua Parks and Recreation Department also has youth programs for all ages. 

Vernon Health includes six area physician clinics – Bland Clinic, Hirsch Clinic, VH Family Practice and Complementary Medicine, La Farge Medical Clinic, Kickapoo Valley Medical Clinic and VH Outpatient Specialty Care; home health and hospice services; three retail pharmacies. Gundersen Medical and Eye Clinic.

Larger cities are easily accessible, but there is something for everyone in this eclectic community. The populations of Viroqua and Vernon County are 4,437 and 31,170 respectively.

Check out this website to see highlights of our area: https://sites.google.com/viroquablackhawk.org/viroquacommunity