Schools in Cloquet, Minnesota
Part of the Cloquet neighborhood guide. Back to the full guide.
Cloquet is served by Cloquet Public Schools (ISD 94), which enrolls roughly 2,529 students across four main buildings plus early childhood and alternative programs: Churchill Elementary and Washington Elementary, both serving prekindergarten through grade 4 with roughly 351 and 495 students respectively, Cloquet Middle School with about 752 students in grades 5 through 8, and Cloquet Senior High School with about 761 students in grades 9 through 12 (NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-2025, accessed 2026-08-13).
The grade structure is worth noting because it differs from most districts in this guide. Elementary runs only to grade 4, and the middle school covers a wide five-through-eight span, so a Cloquet student changes buildings at the end of fourth grade rather than fifth or sixth. Families moving from a district with a different structure should plan for that transition.
The scale argument runs the opposite way from Esko's and Proctor's. At roughly 761 students, Cloquet Senior High is large enough to carry a broader course catalog, more advanced coursework, and a wider range of activities and career and technical programs than a school of 500 or 550 can. What it gives up is the small-cohort intimacy that drives the Esko market ten minutes east. Families in this corridor genuinely choose between those two things, and it is worth comparing actual course offerings rather than reputations.
The district also runs Ojibwe language and culture programming reflecting its long partnership with the Fond du Lac Band, whose own school operates on the reservation west of the city. Attendance boundaries between Churchill and Washington change, so confirm your address with the district. This guide builds its own transparent school ratings from Minnesota Department of Education report card data rather than republishing licensed third-party scores; see the methodology page. Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is in the city, with Lake Superior College, UMD, and St. Scholastica about 25 minutes northeast.
One of the district's two elementaries, serving prekindergarten through grade 4.
The district's larger elementary, serving prekindergarten through grade 4.
The district's middle school, covering grades 5 through 8, a wider span than most middle schools in this guide.
The district's high school, home of the Lumberjacks, with roughly 761 students in grades 9 through 12.
The Fond du Lac Band's own school on the reservation west of the city, offering Ojibwe language and culture alongside the standard curriculum.
The neighboring ISD 99 secondary school in Esko, about 10 minutes east, and the district Cloquet-area families most often compare against.
Higher education nearby: Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Lake Superior College, University of Minnesota Duluth, College of St. Scholastica, University of Wisconsin-Superior.
District guide: Cloquet Public Schools (ISD 94)
Schools next door
Ten minutes east, a rural community with a small school district and noticeably higher prices for the same commute.
CarltonTen minutes south at the Jay Cooke gateway, the county seat and its own ISD 93 district, which absorbed the former city of Thomson in 2015.
ProctorFifteen minutes northeast up I-35, a railroad town with a small district and a shorter Duluth commute.
Fond du LacDuluth's far western neighborhood on the St. Louis River, the closest Duluth address to Cloquet.
Gary-New DuluthWest Duluth on the river corridor, similar prices and similar working-town character with ISD 709 schools.