Longfellow Elementary School

Set in Belle Plaine, Iowa, Longfellow Elementary School is a cozy elementary-level community, operated by Belle Plaine Comm School District. It hosts 267 students across grades pre-K through 6.

Within Belle Plaine Comm School District, which oversees 2 schools and 472 students, Longfellow Elementary School is one campus in the system.

Demographically, Longfellow Elementary School shows that 86% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Other groups include 7% Hispanic, 6% multiracial. By comparison, Benton County as a whole is about 95% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Longfellow Elementary School records 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 13.0:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.7:1, putting Longfellow Elementary School tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 44% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Longfellow Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 69.8%, the actual is 71.1%, a residual of +1.2 points.

In the area at large, census data for Benton County shows the typical household earns roughly $86,962 per year, roughly 26% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 4%. In all, Benton County runs 12 public schools (combined enrollment of about 3,919 students), of which Longfellow Elementary School is one.

Belle Plaine Jr/Sr High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Longfellow Elementary School at 8th of 9; the average score across the group is 74.9%.

The school occupies a rural site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 9%: 293 students in 2018 compared to 267 in 2025. The White share of enrollment declined from 92% to 86% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 14.1:1 in 2018 to 13.0:1 today.

Inside the community feed, the feed for Longfellow Elementary School typically covers open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.