Viola Gibson Elementary School

Viola Gibson Elementary School, a roomy elementary campus in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, operated by Cedar Rapids Comm School District, serves 565 students, covering grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 74% bigger than the typical public school in Iowa, which averages around 325 students.

Across the 35 schools in Cedar Rapids Comm School District (15,494 students total), Viola Gibson Elementary School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Viola Gibson Elementary School lists that 85% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority; the rest reads as 7% multiracial, 5% Hispanic. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

In terms of school funding signals, The school employs 33 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 17.3:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.7:1 average. Roughly 16% of students at Viola Gibson Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is below Linn County's rate of about 40%.

After controlling for student poverty, Viola Gibson Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 83.7%; this one delivers 81.8%.

In the broader community, census data for Linn County shows median household income runs about $77,649, 35% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. In all, Linn County runs 83 public schools (combined enrollment of about 36,480 students), of which Viola Gibson Elementary School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Hiawatha Elementary School, around 1.8 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Viola Gibson Elementary School comes 1st of 7 in the immediate cluster, above the nearby-schools average of 67.4%.

Viola Gibson Elementary School operates from a city-core location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count showed little movement: 578 students in 2018 compared to 565 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Viola Gibson Elementary School community share and discuss pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.