Palco Jr. High

Palco Jr. High, an one-room-style middle-grades school in Palco, Kansas, operated by Palco, educates 12 students, covering grades 6 through 8. Compared to the state average of about 402 students per school, that is 97% leaner than typical.

Across the 3 schools in Palco (77 students total), Palco Jr. High accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Palco Jr. High logs that 100% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Palco Jr. High has 3 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 3.9:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 12.7:1 average. Roughly 42% of students at Palco Jr. High qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

With demographic context factored in, Palco Jr. High sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 42.3%; this one delivers 34.6%.

Around the school, census data for Rooks County shows the typical household earns roughly $62,500 per year, roughly 23% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 2% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Rooks County's 7 public schools (combined enrollment of about 812 students), Palco Jr. High is one campus in the mix.

Palco High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. On composite proficiency, Palco Jr. High comes 3rd of 8 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 30.5%.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 50%: 24 students in 2018 compared to 12 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 96% to 100% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 7.3:1 in 2018 to 3.9:1 today.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.