Green Bay Reporter

There were 15 Black students enrolled in Oconto County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 36.4% more than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Oconto County schools welcomed 4,537 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 0.3% of the student body to be the second least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 19 schools in Oconto County, Oconto Elementary School, Oconto Falls Elementary School, Oconto High School, Oconto Middle School, and Suring Elementary School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students in the 2023-24 school year, with two 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
Abrams Elementary School	0.4%	275
Fairview Elementary School	0.9%	110
Gillett Elementary School	0.3%	291
Northeast Wisconsin Learning Academy	5.3%	19
Oconto Elementary School	0.6%	354
Oconto Falls Elementary School	0.4%	498
Oconto High School	0.8%	265
Oconto Middle School	0.7%	300
Sunnyside Elementary School	0.2%	501
Suring Elementary School	1%	206