Original Research by School Decision on Forrest Street Elementary School
Forrest Street Elementary School serves the youngest children in the Black River Falls School District, offering prekindergarten through first grade within a single building. As an early-primary school, it is the entry point for a substantial number of local families, enrolling more than a few hundred students across these three grade levels. Its purpose is foundational: establishing the routines, social skills, and early academic grounding that children carry forward.
The student body is predominantly white, with a notable share of American Indian or Alaska Native students, a presence that reflects the city’s role as the administrative center of the Ho-Chunk Nation. The remainder includes students who are Hispanic, of two or more races, or Black, with very small numbers in other groups. More than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a share that places the school above the national public school average in economic need. This is a community where a majority of families rely on the school for meals, and the school’s operations reflect that reality.
Because Forrest Street serves only prekindergarten through first grade, it does not yet take the state assessments that apply to older students. The data contain no test results, no proficiency metrics, and no graduation rate. None of this is a sign of weakness. State testing in Wisconsin does not begin until third grade, so the school’s academic performance cannot be measured through the typical public-school metrics. Parents looking for standardized test scores will not find them here, and that is simply the result of the grade band. What a school offers at these ages is less about test outcomes and more about readiness, environment, and developmental support. The data do not include information on special education identification rates, English learner services, or staffing ratios, so it is not possible to describe how the school supports students with disabilities or language needs. A parent may want to ask the school directly about its early intervention programs, class sizes, and how it prepares children for the transition to the upper elementary grades.
The school sits in Black River Falls, a small city that serves as the seat of Jackson County. The local economy blends agriculture, tourism, and some remaining lumber activity, with the Ho-Chunk Nation as a major employer through its administrative center, casino, and hotel operations. The city has a compact, auto-oriented layout, with Interstate 94 running along its eastern edge. The historic downtown holds shops, restaurants, and civic buildings, while the surrounding area is defined by forests, rivers, and outdoor recreation. The school itself is located on Forrest Street in a residential part of town. Housing values in the community are below the state average and lower than the national average, a pattern that aligns with the area’s rural character and economic profile. The typical home price has risen at a pace exceeding the national average in the most recent year, though it remains affordable relative to the state and nation. The comparison set for the district places it relative to the other districts in Jackson County, which is a small set of three districts, so the local context is a small one.
The district itself reported little in the way of recent changes, and no major strategic initiatives or facility updates surfaced in the search. That does not mean nothing is happening, only that public documentation of district-level shifts is thin. Forrest Street Elementary, as a dedicated early-primary building, is a specific choice by the district to separate the youngest learners from older students. That structure can be appealing to families who want a gentle start for their child in a building full of peers at the same developmental stage, with no exposure to the older elementary grades. For families considering the school, the central questions are not about test scores or graduation rates. They are about whether the early learning environment, the community’s economic and cultural character, and the school’s approach to readiness fit the family’s priorities for those first years of school.
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