Heron Lake-Okabena Secondary

Set in OKABENA, Minnesota, Heron Lake-Okabena Secondary is a rural-scale high school, one of the schools within HERON LAKE-OKABENA SCHOOL DISTRICT. It serves 137 students across grades 7 through 12. Compared to the state average of about 371 students per school, that is 63% leaner than typical.

HERON LAKE-OKABENA SCHOOL DISTRICT comprises 2 schools with combined enrollment of 260 students; Heron Lake-Okabena Secondary is among them.

Demographically, Heron Lake-Okabena Secondary records that 70% of the student body identifies as White; the rest looks like 17% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, 3% Native American, 2% Black. By comparison, Jackson County as a whole is about 91% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, The school currently runs with 10 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 13.7:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 16.3:1, putting Heron Lake-Okabena Secondary tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 45% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Heron Lake-Okabena Secondary falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 40.7%; this one comes in at 27.0%, -13.8 points off the demographic line.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Jackson County indicate the typical household earns roughly $75,743 per year, 26% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 5%. In all, Jackson County runs 7 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,353 students), of which Heron Lake-Okabena Secondary is one.

Nearest neighbor: HERON LAKE-OKABENA ELEMENTARY, around 3.6 miles off. Within ten miles, there are 5 other public schools, a sparser pattern than typical urban areas. On composite proficiency, Heron Lake-Okabena Secondary comes 8th of 9 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 39.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a low-density area.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Heron Lake-Okabena Secondary has contracted 9%, going from 151 students in 2018 to 137 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share shrank from 87% to 70%. Class-load math has widened: from 9.8:1 in 2018 to 13.7:1 in 2025.

On this page, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.