South Elementary School

South Elementary School, a modestly sized K-5 school in Leon, Iowa, one of the schools within Central Decatur Comm School District, enrolls 173 students, covering grades pre-K through 2. That puts it 47% smaller than the typical public school in Iowa, which averages around 325 students.

Central Decatur Comm School District runs 3 schools in total, collectively educating 632 students. South Elementary School is one of those campuses.

Demographically, South Elementary School logs that 90% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school records 5% multiracial, 4% Hispanic. That composition is broadly in line with Decatur County as a whole.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 10.3:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.7:1 average. An estimated 71% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Decatur County runs at roughly 61%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

Around the school, the surrounding county (Decatur County) logs that the typical household earns roughly $59,044 per year, about 24% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. South Elementary School is one of 6 public schools in Decatur County (combined enrollment of about 967 students).

Central Decatur MS/HS High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.9 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 2 other public schools cluster around South Elementary School.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Five-year trend. South Elementary School's enrollment has contracted 4% since 2018, when it stood at 180 (now 173). Over the same period, the White share fell from 97% to 90%. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 12.4:1 in 2018 to 10.3:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.