Yosemite Valley School is located near the visitor Center, under Yosemite Falls in the heart of Yosemite National Park. YVS serves the children of the employees of the National Park Service and the concessions companies in the park. Classrooms are equipped with computers and internet access. Textbooks and classroom instruction are aligned with California’s academic standards. Over the course of the years our school population has fluctuated from 36-100 pupils in multi-graded classrooms. In 2006, Yosemite Valley School was recognized as a California Distinguished School for the second time. As a result of a strong service learning emphasis YVS was named a Service Learning Leader School in 2009. Our students have international partnerships, based on environmental education projects, with schools in Japan and Scotland. To culminate a study of the origin of our park our students have visited the birthplace of John Muir, Dunbar, Scotland four times and plan another trip there in June 2011. Our Scottish friends have also visited us in Yosemite several times. We are proud of the school's long tradition in this “crown jewel” of a national park, which is now the destination of over four million visitors a year from around the world.
Yosemite Valley School began in 1875 with students sitting on a fallen log and using packing crates as slates. Next there was a cloth structure with cedar uprights. .
|
Locations to follow included one room buildings in the old village, in Stoneman Meadow and near the present day location in the neighborhood by Yosemite Creek.
Students attended a newer one room school house in the Park Service neighborhood until 1956. This building had a large classroom with a teachers room in the back.In 1956 the present building was built. It was renovated in 1996 to include a new hallway, bathrooms and a teacher's room. The school was first called Yosemite Valley School and then Yosemite Elementary School. The school was formally renamed Yosemite National Park Valley School in 2000 to join its sister schools, Yosemite National Park Wawona School and Yosemite National Park El Portal School. Yosemite Valley School is part of the Mariposa County Unified School District.
 |
Helpful Information for Parents
Contact Information: Yosemite National Park Valley School, P O Box 485, 9009 Lost Arrow Rd., Yosemite National Park 95389 (209) 372-4791 Fax (209) 372-8791
YVS is a public school and part of the Mariposa County Unified School District, Aaron Rosander, Superintendent
This site was last updated September 2011
YVS is a public school and part of the Mariposa County Unified School District, Aaron Rosander, Superintendent
This site was last updated September 2011
