Maple School District
The Maple School District enrolled about 1,271 students in 2024-2025 across four buildings spread over a wide stretch of eastern Douglas County. The first thing to know about it is a naming quirk that misleads buyers regularly: the district is called Maple, but its schools are called Northwestern. If you have been searching for Northwestern High School and cannot find the district, this is it.
About Maple schools
This is a rural district covering a lot of ground and not many people. It reported 77 teacher FTE against 1,271 students, a student-teacher ratio of about 16.5 to 1 (NCES Common Core of Data, accessed 2026-08-14), which is a staffing ratio and not an average class size.
Its shape is the important thing for a buyer. Rather than concentrating everything on one campus, the district distributes buildings across the communities it serves: the elementary and middle school sit in Poplar, the high school in Maple, and a second, much smaller elementary serves Iron River across the county line in Bayfield County. So the daily drive depends on the building and the grade, not just on the district.
It is also worth being explicit about what this district is not. It does not serve the City of Superior, which runs its own district, and it does not serve Solon Springs, which runs its own as well. Douglas County is split across at least three districts, and none of the boundaries follow the pattern a map would suggest.
Schools in the district
Northwestern Elementary in Poplar is the largest building at 515 students, running preschool through grade 5. Northwestern Middle School, also in Poplar, takes grades 6 to 8 with 289. Northwestern High School in Maple takes grades 9 to 12 with 372. Iron River Elementary, the outlier, serves preschool through grade 5 with 95 students.
None of these four has a standalone page in this guide yet. Enrollment and grade spans here come from the federal directory rather than from individual school records.
Enrollment & performance
At about 1,271 students the district is comparable in size to Esko ISD 99 across in Minnesota, though spread over far more territory. Northwestern High School at 372 students is small: about half the size of Proctor Senior High and a quarter of Superior High.
Wisconsin reports school and district accountability through the Department of Public Instruction, whose WISEdash portal carries report cards and outcome data. Note that Wisconsin and Minnesota use different tests and different report card formats, so a Northwestern school and a Minnesota school cannot be honestly ranked against each other on state numbers.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-2025 release (LEA 5508640), accessed 2026-08-14 (2024-2025).
Attendance boundaries
Two questions matter here and neither is obvious from a map. First, whether a parcel is in this district at all, given that Douglas County is split across several and the towns do not line up with the district names. Second, which building a given address feeds, since the elementary, middle, and high schools sit in different communities.
Confirm both with the district for the specific property. The district office is at 4751 South County Road F in Maple, reachable at (715) 363-2431. This guide has not been able to confirm a current district website, so call rather than relying on a search result.
Neighborhoods this district serves
Two communities in this guide are in the Maple School District: Lake Nebagamon, the county's lake village, and Poplar, east of Superior on US 2. Both are short profiles rather than full guides. Buyers comparing districts in Douglas County should look at the School District of Superior, which is much larger and covers the city and several surrounding towns, and at Solon Springs, which is smaller and further south.
Common questions about Maple schools
Why is the district called Maple but the schools called Northwestern?
Because the district is named for the community where its offices and high school sit, while the schools carry a regional name covering the several communities the district draws from. It catches people out constantly in property listings and school searches. If you are looking for Northwestern High School, Northwestern Middle, or Northwestern Elementary, the district you want is Maple.
Which communities does it serve?
A large stretch of eastern Douglas County including Lake Nebagamon and Poplar, plus Iron River across the line in Bayfield County. It does not serve the City of Superior, which has its own district, and it does not serve Solon Springs, which has its own as well.
How big are the schools?
Northwestern Elementary in Poplar is the largest building at 515 students, followed by Northwestern High at 372 and Northwestern Middle at 289. Iron River Elementary is much smaller at 95. Total district enrollment is about 1,271.
Why are the buildings in different towns?
The district covers a lot of rural ground, so it distributes buildings rather than concentrating them: the elementary and middle school are in Poplar, the high school is in Maple, and a second elementary serves Iron River. For a buyer that means the school run depends on which building and which grade, not just on the district, so check the specific address.