Schools in Knife River, Minnesota
Part of the Knife River neighborhood guide. Back to the full guide.
Knife River is served by Lake Superior School District (ISD 381), the same district covering Two Harbors and Silver Bay, which enrolls 1,286 students across four schools (NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-2025, accessed 2026-08-13).
Children here attend Minnehaha Elementary at 421 7th Street in Two Harbors, about 367 students in prekindergarten through grade 5, and then Two Harbors Secondary School, about 597 students in grades 6 through 12. Both are roughly twelve minutes northeast. The district's Silver Bay schools, William Kelley Elementary and Wm. M. Kelley Secondary, serve the other end of the county.
Two practical points. First, there is no school in Knife River and there is not going to be one, so every school day involves a bus or a drive along Scenic 61 or the expressway, in whatever weather the shore is producing. Second, the district is small: a 6-12 secondary school of 597 students cannot offer the course catalog, advanced coursework, or activity range of a large district, and the driving distances make Minnesota open enrollment less practical here than in the Duluth suburbs.
What the district offers instead is very small class sizes and unusual access to outdoor and place-based programming, given where it sits. Families with a specific academic requirement should compare course offerings directly rather than assume. Confirm the assignment for a specific 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.
There are no private school options in Lake County. The nearest is Marshall School in Duluth, about 25 minutes southwest.
The district's Two Harbors elementary, at 421 7th Street, about 12 minutes northeast.
The district's Two Harbors secondary school, grades 6 through 12 in one building, home of the Agates. Also referred to as Two Harbors High School.
The district's Silver Bay elementary, about 40 minutes northeast.
The nearest independent non-sectarian option, in Duluth, about 25 minutes southwest.
Higher education nearby: Lake Superior College, University of Minnesota Duluth, College of St. Scholastica, University of Wisconsin-Superior.
District guide: Lake Superior School District (ISD 381)
Schools next door
Twelve minutes northeast, the North Shore's last full-service town and the school and hospital for this community.
North Shore (Duluth)Southwest along Scenic 61 toward Duluth's Brighton Beach, the same shoreline with a Duluth address.
LakesideDuluth's east-side family neighborhood, about 20 minutes southwest, with a walkable business block.
Silver BayForty minutes northeast, the other Lake County town, in the same school district at much lower prices.
Lester ParkThe east end of Duluth on the way in, with trail access and a full city behind it.