Preble High School opened in 1955, with a campus of both junior (7th-9th grade) and senior (10th-12th grade) high schools housed in separate buildings. The junior high was phased out with the opening of Edison Junior High (now Edison Middle) School in 1970. In 1986, Green Bay Public Schools changed to a format of middle (6th-8th grade) and high (9th-12th grade) schools.
On August 8, 2014, a fire occurred in a gymnasium at Preble High School, delaying the start of classes. The fire was a result of the spontaneous combustion of rags soaked with gym floor resurfacing product.[5] It was the second largest fire in Green Bay history.[6] The estimated damage was about 7.5 million dollars. A new field house with an indoor track opened in November 2014.[6]
Preble, which was designed for roughly 1700 students, has held as many as 2100, making it the second largest high school in Wisconsin as of 2016.[7] A referendum to create a new school in northeastern Brown County, Wisconsin to alleviate overcrowding was defeated by a 2-to-1 margin on November 6, 2006.[8] With the recent decline in student population across the Green Bay area, enrollment has stabilized at 1700-1800 students.
Demographics of Preble High School students (2018-2019)[9]
White (53.6%)
Hispanic (30.7%)
Asian (6.8%)
Black (5.5%)
Two or More Races (2%)
Native American (1.5%)
Athletics
Preble's athletic teams are known as the Hornets, and compete in the Fox River Classic Conference of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. The Hornets have won nine WIAA championships, six of which came from gymnastics. A brand new track and turf field were constructed at the school in the summer of 2023.[10]
Preble's music and drama program puts on a variety of plays and musicals throughout the year. The school also has two competitive show choirs, the mixed-gender Center Stage and the female Rendezvous.[12] In October 2010, Center Stage was voted in a fan poll run by Parade Magazine as one of the top three favorite show choirs in the country.[13]
Sting Cancer
In 2004, a faculty member who is a cancer survivor and students at Preble founded Sting Cancer, a club for raising awareness of cancer and offering support to those affected by it. Over a decade later, the club has spread to nearly 30 other schools in northeast Wisconsin.[14]
^"WISEdash Data Files by Topic". Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
