Paola High

Paola High is a 9-12 campus of mid-tier scale in Paola, Kansas, operated by Paola, works with 567 students in grades 9 through 12. Compared to the state average of about 410 students per school, that is 38% larger than typical.

Paola High is one of 4 schools operated by Paola, a district that instructs 1,732 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Paola High lists that 88% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder comes out to 7% Hispanic, 3% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

Looking at school resources, The school lists 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 14.2:1. The state averages around 11.9:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. An estimated 31% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Paola High is in the bottom 10% of Kansas public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 47.3%; Paola High posts 32.2%, -15.1 points below that line.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Miami County) shows that the typical household earns roughly $89,000 per year, about 31% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Paola High is one of 17 public schools in Miami County (combined enrollment of about 6,529 students).

Nearest neighbor: Sunflower Elem, around 0.1 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 3 other public schools cluster around Paola High. Among the 6 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Paola High ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 34.2%.

The school occupies a small-town site.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 12%: 643 students in 2018 compared to 567 in 2025. Class-load math has narrowed: from 15.8:1 in 2018 to 14.2:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.