Original Research by School Decision on Crandon High
Crandon High serves grades nine through twelve and is the only high school in the Crandon School District, located in the Northwoods city of Crandon, the Forest County seat. The school sits on a combined campus with the district’s other schools, integrated into the small city rather than isolated on a separate campus. The community around it is a low-density rural city shaped by logging, tourism, light industry, and the nearby casinos, with a downtown core along US 8 and WIS 32. Seasonal influxes from the Crandon International Off-Road Raceway and lake tourism at Lake Metonga bring periodic visitors, but the year-round residential population is modest and growing very slowly. Housing values reflect the area’s rural character, with a median home price below the state benchmark and an estimated monthly mortgage cost that is manageable relative to the national median household income, though household incomes in the broader county are below the national figure. Walkability is limited outside the downtown grid, and daily life is largely car-dependent.
Enrollment at the high school is somewhat small for a four-year public high school, with a student body that is fairly balanced across the grades. Just under two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of economic need that is substantial but not the highest in the region. The student population is predominantly white, with a notable share of American Indian or Alaska Native students, a smaller share identifying as two or more races, and a thin representation of Hispanic students. Black, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students each make up a very small portion of the school’s enrollment. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those programs and services.
State assessment results for Crandon High were not available in the data. Because the school serves only high school grades, state testing is administered in specific grade bands, and the absence of reported results means that the available data did not include them rather than that the school was not tested. Without proficiency figures or a graduation rate in the data, there is no direct academic outcome measure to report here. The comparison data that would place the school’s proficiency, graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism against other districts in Forest County was also missing, so a parent cannot yet see how this school lines up with its neighbors on those metrics. The school’s website, part of the district’s site at sdofcrandon.com, would be the place to look for the most current test results, graduation rates, and course offerings.
The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it did not have Title I status reported in the data. No information was available on course access, including Advanced Placement, dual-credit, or career and technical education programs, nor on staffing ratios, class sizes, or discipline rates. A family trying to gauge the breadth of academic pathways or the level of student support may want to follow up with the school directly, because the data leaves those questions open.
Forest County has only a handful of public school districts, so the comparison set is a small one. The lack of reported outcomes makes it difficult to place Crandon High in that local context. What is clear is the setting: a small Northwoods high school in a community where logging, tourism, and the casinos anchor the economy, where growth is slow and housing is relatively affordable by state standards, and where the school serves a student body with a notable degree of economic diversity and a visible American Indian presence. For a family considering the area, the school’s size means it can offer a close-knit environment, but the missing academic and program details mean that a thorough visit and conversation with the school are essential to understand what kind of pathway it provides.
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