John Ball Park Zoo School

John Ball Park Zoo School is one of the minimally staffed intermediate schools in GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan, run under Grand Rapids Public Schools, with 58 students on its rolls from grade 6. Compared to the state average of about 502 students per school, that is 88% below typical.

Grand Rapids Public Schools runs 50 schools in total, collectively educating 13,903 students. John Ball Park Zoo School is one of those campuses.

On demographics, John Ball Park Zoo School logs that the student body is overwhelmingly White (81%); the rest consists of 10% multiracial, 5% Hispanic, 3% Black. By comparison, Kent County as a whole is about 73% White, so the school skews meaningfully more White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 3 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 22.3:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 17.5:1 average. Roughly 43% of students at John Ball Park Zoo School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

After controlling for student poverty, John Ball Park Zoo School is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 47.2%; this one delivers 66.3%, a residual of +19.2 points.

Across the wider county, census data for Kent County shows median household earnings sit near $82,631, about 41% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. In all, Kent County runs 239 public schools (combined enrollment of about 97,253 students), of which John Ball Park Zoo School is one.

Sibley School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around John Ball Park Zoo School.

The campus sits in a high-density setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. John Ball Park Zoo School's enrollment has held roughly steady since 2018, when it stood at 57 (now 58). The White share of enrollment increased from 56% to 81% over that span. Class-load math has narrowed: from 27.1:1 in 2018 to 22.3:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.