Original Research by School Decision on Three Lakes High
Three Lakes High is the sole public high school in the Three Lakes School District, serving grades nine through twelve in a small Northwoods town in Oneida County. Because it is a single-school high school in a rural district, nearly every local high school student attends here. The school has a small enrollment, which is typical for this setting, meaning students will likely be well-known by their teachers and classmates.
The student body is predominantly white, with small numbers of students who are Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, or Hispanic. Roughly a third of students come from households that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that gives a sense of the economic mix within the community. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the resources and staffing for those populations.
State testing data was not available for this school, so there is no direct information on how students at Three Lakes High perform on Wisconsin’s academic assessments. Without those results, a family cannot compare proficiency rates in reading, math, or science against other schools in Oneida County or the state. This is a notable gap; a parent who wants a clear academic benchmark would need to request the school’s most recent assessment reports directly. Graduation rate data was also not available, so that key measure of how many students finish high school in four years is missing from the public record.
The high school offers a regular public-school curriculum, but specific program offerings—Advanced Placement, dual credit, career and technical education pathways, or specialized academies—were not listed in the data. Whether a student has access to college-level coursework, industry certifications, or early college credits is something a family would need to investigate with guidance counselors. Given the small size of the school, course offerings may be more limited than those at a larger high school, though the district may share programs or resources with nearby schools.
Three Lakes itself is a town that has moved through logging, potato farming, and a long phase as a tourism-dependent community. Today it is trying to broaden its economic base by adding light manufacturing, a winery, an arts center, and better broadband to attract remote workers. The town is very spread out, with a low population density and many seasonal homes on lakes. The school sits on School Street, part of the downtown cluster, so students can walk to a few local destinations, but the overall setting is rural. Housing values in the area are above the national median, and the combination of lakefront property and the broader county's real estate market makes homeownership a stretch relative to typical incomes. Rents are more affordable than a mortgage payment in this market, which is a common pattern in vacation-home areas.
The district itself had no parent-relevant changes—such as recent referenda, budget shifts, or curriculum overhauls—that were publicly reported in the period searched. That stability may be welcome to some families, but a parent who wants to understand the district’s financial outlook or any planned improvements should check with the district office directly.
Three Lakes High is best suited for a family that values a small, rural high school where a student is unlikely to get lost in the crowd. The absence of test scores and graduation data means there is less public information to judge academic outcomes than at most Wisconsin high schools. A parent considering this school should visit, talk to teachers and the principal, and ask for the school’s internal data on student achievement and post-graduate plans. The community itself offers a lake-centered lifestyle and a town that is actively trying to modernize, but the trade-off is fewer of the academic and extracurricular options that come with a larger school.
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