SW Wisconsin News

There were 27 Black students enrolled in Juneau County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 22.7% more than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Juneau County schools welcomed 3,511 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 0.8% of the student body to be the third least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 23 schools in Juneau County, Mauston High School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students in the 2023-24 school year, with six 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 Black students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Camp Douglas Elementary School	1.6%	64
Grayside Elementary School	0.8%	238
Mauston High School	1.6%	365
Mauston Montessori Charter School	2%	102
Necedah Elementary School	0.8%	265
Necedah High School	1.5%	200
Necedah Middle School	1.5%	135
New Lisbon Elementary School	0.3%	314
Olson Middle School	0.4%	230
Royall Elementary School	0.6%	164
West Side Elementary School	0.7%	277
Wonewoc - Center Elementary	0.6%	175
Wonewoc - Center Virtual Academy	11.1%	9
iLEAD Charter School	2.2%	92