Brener Elementary

As a middle-of-the-pack K-5 school in Shawano, Wisconsin, Brener Elementary hosts 389 students from grades 3 through 5, run under Shawano School District. That puts it 20% bigger than the typical public school in Wisconsin, which averages around 323 students.

Shawano School District runs 5 schools in total, collectively educating 2,079 students. Brener Elementary is one of those campuses.

Demographically, Brener Elementary shows that the most-represented group is White (52%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder comes out to 20% Native American, 15% multiracial, 11% Hispanic. By comparison, Shawano County as a whole is about 85% White, so the school skews noticeably less White than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Brener Elementary lists 25 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 15.4:1. The state averages about 14.7:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Roughly 57% of students at Brener Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Shawano County (around 47%), the school's rate is somewhat above typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Brener Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 42.8%, the actual is 45.3%, a residual of +2.5 points.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Shawano County indicate the typical household earns roughly $66,479 per year, about 19% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. Brener Elementary is one of 17 public schools in Shawano County (combined enrollment of about 4,832 students).

Nearest neighbor: Shawano Community Middle, around 0.3 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 4 other public schools cluster around Brener Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Brener Elementary at 4th of 6; the average score across the group is 38.5%.

Brener Elementary operates from a small-town location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count grew 5%: 371 students in 2018 compared to 389 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 69% to 52% across the same window. Class-load math has loosened: from 8.9:1 in 2018 to 15.4:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.