The Vassar Public School District is located approximately fifteen miles east of Saginaw and seven miles northeast of Frankenmuth in Tuscola County, an area commonly referred to as the “Thumb” of Michigan. The area making up the school district was first settled in 1849 by Mr. Townsend North who was awarded 3,000 acres of Tuscola timberland for building a bridge across the Cass River in 1835. He and James M. Edmunds named the area after James’s uncle, Matthew Vassar, who later founded Vassar College in New York. The area that makes up the school district was primarily used for lumber production until 1881 when forest fires ravaged the area; ironically, this benefited the county by clearing the land for agriculture which is still active today.
While farming is still an active part of the community, it accounts for a small portion of the earned income of this community. Much of the farming in the community, which is west of the City of Vassar, is made up of large, single family farms.
The current community of Vassar is more a bedroom community serving the needs of Flint, Saginaw, and Bay City, with the population’s income greatly influenced by the auto industry or smaller industries with ties to auto production.
While over the last ten years the area has experienced a slight increase in the overall population (10.3%), the district’s school population has stayed fairly fixed with a student population around 1650 to 1700 students. The ethnic population of 88.4% Caucasian, 8.3% African American, and 3.3% other has also been stable over the last ten years both within the community and within the school district.
The children of this community are educated on three campuses within the City of Vassar. Townsend North Elementary School built in 1952 houses our Pre- kindergarten through 2nd grade programs, Central Elementary School our newest building built in 1995 handles the educational programs for students in the 3rd through 6th grade, Vassar Junior High built as an addition to the high school in 1969 handles grades 7th and 8th and finally the high school which was built in 1960 address the needs of our students in grades 9 through 12.
Just east of the City of Vassar the district also handles the educational needs of Pioneer Work and Learn which is the State’s largest private juvenile detention center. Run by Wolverine Human Services the facility has approximately 300 adjudicated youths “campers” housed for periods of six months to a year. During their stay the district through it’s on site staff provide educational programs leading to a high school diploma.
In closing I would like to welcome you to our school district and our community by way of this website. Please take some time to view the information provided on this site. We hope this will give you a little better understanding of our school district and our community as we work together to assure the success of our children.