DISCOVERY COMMUNITY ELEMENTARY

DISCOVERY COMMUNITY ELEMENTARY is a substantial elementary campus in WAITE PARK, Minnesota, run under ST. CLOUD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT. The school hosts 572 students in grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 66% bigger than the typical public school in Minnesota, which averages around 344 students.

ST. CLOUD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT runs 22 schools in total, collectively educating 9,803 students. DISCOVERY COMMUNITY ELEMENTARY is one of those campuses.

On demographics, DISCOVERY COMMUNITY ELEMENTARY logs that the most-represented group is Black (42%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest is composed of 25% Hispanic, 23% White, 7% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 9% Black, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Black than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 43 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 13.2:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Around 79% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably above Stearns County's rate of about 44%.

With demographic context factored in, DISCOVERY COMMUNITY ELEMENTARY tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 22.7% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 21.0%.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (Stearns County) shows that median household earnings sit near $77,066, 29% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. Across Stearns County's 74 public schools (combined enrollment of about 24,160 students), DISCOVERY COMMUNITY ELEMENTARY is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is EC Sp Ed at Quarryview Ed Center, roughly 0.1 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts DISCOVERY COMMUNITY ELEMENTARY at 2nd of 4; the average score across the group is 23.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a residential area.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at DISCOVERY COMMUNITY ELEMENTARY has climbed 31%, going from 438 students in 2018 to 572 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment fell from 57% to 42% over that span. Class-load math has widened: from 12.1:1 in 2018 to 13.2:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.