Richard Ira Jones Middle School

Set in Plainfield, Illinois, Richard Ira Jones Middle School is a well-populated middle school, part of Plainfield SD 202. It teaches 851 students across grades 6 through 8. Compared to the state average of about 462 students per school, that is 84% bigger than typical.

Plainfield SD 202 comprises 30 schools with combined enrollment of 24,556 students; Richard Ira Jones Middle School is among them.

On demographics, Richard Ira Jones Middle School logs that the largest single group is White at 55%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 17% Hispanic, 12% Asian, 11% Black, 4% multiracial.

On the resource side, The school currently runs with 55 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 15.5:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.0:1 average. An estimated 22% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Will County (around 44%), the school's rate is south of typical.

With demographic context factored in, Richard Ira Jones Middle School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 58.6% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 60.4%.

Across the wider county, census data for Will County shows the typical household earns roughly $109,984 per year, roughly 38% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. In all, Will County runs 209 public schools (combined enrollment of about 113,008 students), of which Richard Ira Jones Middle School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Wallin Oaks Elementary School, around 0.2 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Richard Ira Jones Middle School ranks 4th on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 59.0%.

The school occupies a commuter-belt site.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 5%: 894 students in 2018 compared to 851 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share contracted from 67% to 55%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 16.8:1 in 2018 to 15.5:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.