Woodside Middle School

As a moderately sized intermediate school in Des Moines, Iowa, Woodside Middle School serves 396 students from grades 5 through 8, one of the schools within Saydel Comm School District.

Saydel Comm School District runs 3 schools in total, collectively educating 1,409 students. Woodside Middle School is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, Woodside Middle School shows that the largest single group is White, at 66% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school records 21% Hispanic, 11% multiracial. By comparison, Polk County as a whole is about 76% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.4:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 15.2:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 57% of students at Woodside Middle School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Woodside Middle School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 63.6% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 62.9%.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Polk County indicate median household income runs about $83,576, 40% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Polk County's 137 public schools (combined enrollment of about 77,436 students), Woodside Middle School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Saydel High School, around 0.4 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Woodside Middle School ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 49.3%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count remained close to its prior level: 392 students in 2018 compared to 396 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 78% to 66%.

Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.