Our Schools

Public education in Proctor officially began in 1893, when the Railway built a school on the west side of the future village. Finished with dark green paint provided by the Railway, the small school only offered primary classes at first. But by 1910, high school classes were also offered at the school, which presented its first graduating class in 1912.

With growing demand for secondary education, the Railway helped finance the construction of a high school building, which opened on the east side of Proctor in 1917. School spirit in that first academic year resulted in the creation of the school yearbook (The Proctorian) and the selection of school colors: Missabe green (the color of Proctor’s first school) and white. Not long after, the students selected their team name (“The Rails”), which was depicted as a fast-moving locomotive.

The school district also opened a new K-9 school, called Summit School, on the west side of Proctor in 1923. And Proctor’s first school building, no longer needed, was sold and reused by a Lutheran church.

School traditions at the high school blossomed in the next two decades. In 1925, students started publishing a school newspaper called The Mallet, named after a type of steam engine used on the Railway. And in 1935, high school music teacher John Moody composed Proctor’s original school song, “Proctor High”.

Major changes to the district came in the 1940s. Starting in 1946, numerous rural areas outside of Proctor joined the Proctor School District. This era also marked the beginning of a process to transfer the students in Duluth’s Bayview Heights neighborhood (and their school building) into Proctor Schools. By 1950, the district’s enrollment more than doubled.

The spike in enrollment caused a need for a designated junior high school. And in 1957, a junior high building was constructed and connected to the high school on the east side of Proctor. It was named A. I. Jedlicka Middle School in honor of the school district’s longtime superintendent, who started in 1918 and served until his death in 1962.

With continued growth, enrollment at the middle and high school outgrew the secondary facilities again. In 1983, Summit School was rededicated as the new high school, and Summit’s displaced elementary students were moved to the recently-expanded Bay View School. Middle school students expanded their instruction into the former high school.

Eventually, the middle school became outdated. In 2004, a new middle school building was constructed and connected to Proctor High School. Proctor’s first high school building, no longer needed, was demolished, and the 1957 middle school wing was sold and reused as an apartment building.

Today, the school district includes four schools: Bay View Elementary (K-5), Pike Lake Elementary (K-5), A. I. Jedlicka Middle (6-8), and Proctor High (9-12).