Colby Senior High

Colby Senior High, a tight-knit 9-12 campus in Colby, Kansas, run under Colby Public Schools, works with 296 students, covering grades 9 through 12. Compared to the state average of about 410 students per school, that is 28% smaller than typical.

Colby Senior High is one of 3 schools operated by Colby Public Schools, a district that hosts 958 students overall.

Demographically, Colby Senior High lists that the student body is overwhelmingly White (81%). The remainder breaks down as 15% Hispanic, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Thomas County as a whole is about 90% White, so the school skews visibly less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Colby Senior High has 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.6:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 11.9:1, putting Colby Senior High higher than the state norm the norm. Around 30% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Colby Senior High is in the bottom 10% of Kansas public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 48.0%; Colby Senior High posts 24.7%, -23.3 points below that line.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Thomas County indicate the typical household earns roughly $71,325 per year, 35% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 4%. Across Thomas County's 7 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,169 students), Colby Senior High is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Colby Elem, around 1.6 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 2 other public schools cluster around Colby Senior High. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Colby Senior High ranks 7th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 28.8%.

The campus sits in a rural setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Colby Senior High has showed little movement, going from 293 students in 2018 to 296 in 2025. Class-load math has narrowed: from 18.9:1 in 2018 to 13.6:1 in 2025.

On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.