Southeast Middle School

Southeast Middle School operates as a substantial middle-grades school in Iowa City, Iowa, part of Iowa City Comm School District. Current enrollment sits at 1,269 students spanning grades 6 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 217% above the state mean of about 400.

Iowa City Comm School District runs 29 schools in total, collectively educating 15,111 students. Southeast Middle School is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Southeast Middle School lists that the most-represented group is White (50%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Beyond that, the school records 22% Black, 19% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, 2% Asian. That is noticeably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 76%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Southeast Middle School shows 83 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 15.3:1. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 47% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Johnson County runs at roughly 37%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Southeast Middle School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 68.2%, the actual is 69.3%, a residual of +1.1 points.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Johnson County) shows that the typical household earns roughly $74,935 per year, roughly 55% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. Across Johnson County's 43 public schools (combined enrollment of about 20,019 students), Southeast Middle School is one campus in the mix.

Elizabeth Tate Alt. High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Southeast Middle School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Southeast Middle School at 3rd of 8; the average score across the group is 61.4%.

The school occupies a high-density site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count climbed 68%: 757 students in 2018 compared to 1,269 in 2025. The White share of enrollment edged down from 59% to 50% over that span.

Inside the community feed, the feed for Southeast Middle School typically covers classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.