Walnut Street School

Walnut Street School operates as a low-enrollment elementary-level community in Des Moines, Iowa, part of Des Moines Independent Comm School District. Current enrollment sits at 257 students spanning grades pre-K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 325 students per school, that is 21% below typical.

Within Des Moines Independent Comm School District, which oversees 59 schools and 29,676 students, Walnut Street School is one campus in the system.

On the student-mix side, Walnut Street School lists that the largest single group is Black at 33%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 30% White, 19% Hispanic, 14% multiracial, 5% Asian. That is noticeably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 7%.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.9:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.7:1, putting Walnut Street School higher than the state norm the norm. An estimated 62% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Polk County (around 49%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Walnut Street School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 60.8% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 58.7%.

In the area at large, Polk County reports that median household earnings sit near $83,576, about 40% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Polk County runs 137 public schools (combined enrollment of about 77,436 students), of which Walnut Street School is one.

Downtown School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Walnut Street School comes 2nd of 7 in the immediate cluster, above the nearby-schools average of 45.0%.

Walnut Street School operates from a downtown location.

Looking at the recent track record. Walnut Street School's enrollment has decreased 16% since 2018, when it stood at 307 (now 257). The White share of enrollment declined from 49% to 30% over that span.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.