Saydel High School

Saydel High School is a 9-12 campus of average-sized scale in Des Moines, Iowa, part of Saydel Comm School District, enrolling 458 students in grades 9 through 12.

Within Saydel Comm School District, which oversees 3 schools and 1,409 students, Saydel High School is one campus in the system.

Looking at the student body, Saydel High School lists that the largest single group is White, at 68% of enrollment; the rest looks like 20% Hispanic, 9% multiracial.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Saydel High School has 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 16.6:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 53% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

After controlling for student poverty, Saydel High School is in the bottom 10% of Iowa public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 65.5%; Saydel High School posts 48.9%, -16.7 points below that line.

In the surrounding community, Polk County reports that the typical household earns roughly $83,576 per year, roughly 40% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. Across Polk County's 137 public schools (combined enrollment of about 77,436 students), Saydel High School is one campus in the mix.

Woodside Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Saydel High School. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Saydel High School ranks 4th on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 46.5%.

Geographically, the school is in a residential area.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged up 10%: 415 students in 2018 compared to 458 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share ticked down from 84% to 68%. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 14.0:1 in 2018 to 16.6:1 today.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.