Wills Valley Elementary School

Set in Fort Payne, Alabama, Wills Valley Elementary School is a sizable K-5 school, operated by Fort Payne City. It teaches 738 students across grades K through 2. That puts it 54% above the typical public school in Alabama, which averages around 480 students.

Wills Valley Elementary School is one of 5 schools operated by Fort Payne City, a district that serves 3,508 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Wills Valley Elementary School reports that 49% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder is composed of 43% Hispanic, 4% multiracial, 3% Black. The wider county runs roughly 80% White, putting the school's mix considerably less White than the area baseline.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 55 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 13.4:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 17.0:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 66% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for DeKalb County indicate median household earnings sit near $51,204, roughly 14% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 16% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Wills Valley Elementary School is one of 20 public schools in DeKalb County (combined enrollment of about 12,277 students).

The closest other public school is Fort Payne High School, roughly 0.5 miles away. 4 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

Geographically, the school is in a town-center area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 6%: 783 students in 2018 compared to 738 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share edged down from 55% to 49%. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 15.2:1 in 2018 to 13.4:1 today.

On this page, members of the Wills Valley Elementary School community share and discuss fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.