Northwoods Reporter

There were 465 Hispanic students enrolled in Barron County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 1.8% more than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Barron County schools welcomed 7,355 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Hispanic students comprised 6.3% of the student body to be the second most represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 36 schools in Barron County, Rice Lake High School recorded the highest enrollment of Hispanic students in the 2023-24 school year, with a total of 47 students.

According to the Nation’s Report Card 2022 results, Black fourth-graders in Wisconsin scored an average of 40 points lower than their white colleagues in both math and reading.

Data also showed that Black students were three times as likely to fail the reading test than white pupils in the state. The gap is even larger in mathematics, with Black students failing five times more than white students.

These achievement gaps are also reflected in graduation rates. According to recent US Census data, nearly 95% of white students in the state successfully graduated in 2021.

Meanwhile, graduation rates for Black and multiracial students lagged behind white students by 10%. Even further behind, only 71.6% of Hispanic students completed their high school education during the same period, one of the lowest graduation rates in the state.

School name	% of Hispanic students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Advanced Learning Academy of Wisconsin	6.7%	30
Barron Area Montessori School	7.7%	52
Barron High School	9.9%	312
Cameron Academy of Virtual Education	3.3%	123
Cameron Elementary School	2.5%	434
Cameron High School	3.7%	298
Cameron Middle School	2.8%	320
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School	3.1%	255
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser Middle School	3.4%	204
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser Roselawn Elementary School	2.8%	462
Cumberland Elementary School	11.2%	349
Cumberland High School	9.1%	297
Cumberland Middle School	10%	261
Haugen Elementary School	3.7%	81
Hilltop Elementary School	14%	264
Island City Virtual Academy	10.6%	47
Link2Learn Virtual Charter School	5.7%	35
New Auburn Elementary School	4.4%	138
New Auburn High School	2.1%	97
New Auburn Middle School	5.9%	51
Prairie Farm High School	2.2%	137
Prairie Farm Middle School	3.9%	78
Rice Lake High School	6.6%	712
Rice Lake Middle School	5.6%	610
Riverview Middle School	11.1%	298
Tainter Elementary School	4.3%	490
Turtle Lake Elementary School	8.9%	214
Turtle Lake High School	3.6%	112
Turtle Lake Middle School	6.1%	99
Woodland Elementary School	14.5%	311