Original Research by School Decision on Fennimore High
Fennimore High serves grades nine through twelve as the sole high school of the Fennimore Community School District, located in the small rural city of Fennimore in Grant County’s Driftless Area. The school enrolls a modest number of students for a high school in this region, and the student body is overwhelmingly white. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which gives a sense of the economic mix of families in the community. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it operates within a district that anchors the town alongside Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, a significant local employer and educational institution.
State testing data for Fennimore High was not available, so there is no reported measure of overall academic proficiency in math, reading, or science from the standardized assessments the state administers. Similarly, the available data does not include a four-year graduation rate, chronic absenteeism figures, or information about college-entrance exams such as the ACT or SAT. This absence means a parent or resident cannot compare student outcomes at this school against others in Grant County using those common metrics. It is possible the data simply was not reported or collected in a way that reached this profile, but the gap is notable. Without test results or a graduation rate, much of the typical picture of academic performance is missing, and anyone evaluating the school would likely want to follow up directly with the district or school to ask about these numbers, as well as about course offerings, Advanced Placement or dual-credit options, and post-graduation plans for seniors.
The comparison data that does exist places Fennimore High relative to other districts in Grant County, but all three key metrics—overall proficiency, four-year graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism—were flagged as not applicable because the school’s own values were missing. So the school cannot be positioned against its neighbors in these areas from the available evidence.
The student body, though data on special populations like students with disabilities and English learners was not reported, appears demographically homogenous. The school’s size is small enough that students likely know one another and staff well, which some families value highly. Fennimore itself is a compact community centered on the US 18/61 crossroads, with a traditional downtown, a municipal pool, walking trails, and an active chamber of commerce that runs community events. The housing market in the area shows home values well below the national median, and the district profile notes that housing is described as available and reasonably priced. The local economy is anchored by the technical college, a battery manufacturing plant, and a mix of education, agriculture, and construction employers. The city has pursued industrial park development and has seen modest population growth over the past decade.
Parents considering Fennimore High are looking at a small, rural public high school in a tight-knit community where most students are white and a meaningful share come from lower-income households. The lack of published achievement data and graduation-rate information is the single biggest open question about this school. That does not mean the school is weak or strong—it means a family would need to seek answers from the district office or school leadership to get a clear read on academic outcomes and college and career readiness. The community setting offers a quiet, affordable, small-town environment with a technical college presence that could provide pathways for students interested in skilled trades or associate-degree programs, but whether the high school itself systematically connects students to those opportunities is not documented in the available information.
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