Schools in Two Harbors, Minnesota
Part of the Two Harbors neighborhood guide. Back to the full guide.
Two Harbors is served by Lake Superior School District (ISD 381), which enrolls 1,286 students across four schools and covers a large, sparsely populated county, serving both Two Harbors and Silver Bay about 30 minutes northeast (NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-2025, accessed 2026-08-13).
The structure is worth understanding, because it is unusual. Each town has one elementary and one 6-12 secondary school. In Two Harbors that means Minnehaha Elementary at 421 7th Street, about 367 students in prekindergarten through grade 5, and Two Harbors Secondary School, about 597 students in grades 6 through 12, home of the Agates. In Silver Bay it means William Kelley Elementary at 137 Banks Boulevard, about 143 students, and Wm. M. Kelley Secondary School, about 179 students in grades 6 through 12. The district's own site also refers to the Two Harbors building as Two Harbors High School, which is why published enrollment figures for it vary so widely: some sources count only the high school grades, others the full 6-12 span.
The scale reality is the same as elsewhere in this guide, more so. A district of 1,286 students spread across two towns cannot offer the course catalog, advanced coursework range, or activity breadth of a district four times its size, and the Silver Bay secondary school at 179 students across seven grade levels is among the smallest in Minnesota. What it offers instead is very small class sizes, a graduating cohort where everyone knows everyone, and unusual access to outdoor and place-based programming given where it sits. Families with a specific academic requirement should compare offerings directly and consider Minnesota open enrollment, though the driving distances make cross-district enrollment less practical here than in the Duluth suburbs. Attendance assignment follows which end of the county you live in, so confirm 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; see the methodology page. There are no private school options in Lake County; the nearest is Marshall School in Duluth, about 35 minutes southwest. Higher education means Duluth: Lake Superior College, UMD, and St. Scholastica are all around 30 to 40 minutes.
The district's Two Harbors elementary, at 421 7th Street, serving prekindergarten through grade 5.
The district's Two Harbors secondary school, grades 6 through 12 in one building, home of the Agates. The district also refers to it as Two Harbors High School.
The district's Silver Bay elementary, at 137 Banks Boulevard, about 30 minutes northeast.
The district's Silver Bay secondary school, grades 6 through 12, and one of the smallest public secondary schools in Minnesota.
The nearest independent non-sectarian option, in Duluth, about 35 minutes southwest.
Higher education nearby: Lake Superior College, University of Minnesota Duluth, College of St. Scholastica, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, University of Wisconsin-Superior.
District guide: Lake Superior School District (ISD 381)
Schools next door
Ten minutes southwest on Scenic 61, a smaller shoreline community with the same lake access and no town services.
Silver BayThirty minutes northeast, a planned taconite town with the same school district and noticeably lower prices.
North Shore (Duluth)Duluth's own shoreline strip past Brighton Beach, the closest thing to Two Harbors inside the city limits.
LakesideDuluth's east-side family neighborhood, about 20 minutes southwest, with more services and a shorter commute.
Lester ParkThe east end of Duluth on the way here, with trail access and a full city behind it.