FIT Academy

Set in APPLE VALLEY, Minnesota, FIT Academy is a small K-5 school, one of the schools within FIT Academy. It instructs 264 students across grades K through 5. That puts it 23% below the typical public school in Minnesota, which averages around 344 students.

FIT Academy runs 2 schools in total, collectively educating 458 students. FIT Academy is one of those campuses.

On demographics, FIT Academy logs that the largest single group is White at 55%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder consists of 27% Black, 10% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, 3% Asian. By comparison, Dakota County as a whole is about 74% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 23 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.7:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.7:1 average. About 42% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

After controlling for student poverty, FIT Academy sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 42.3%; this one delivers 38.3%.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Dakota County) reports that median household earnings sit near $106,318, about 45% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 4%. FIT Academy is one of 170 public schools in Dakota County (combined enrollment of about 74,687 students).

The closest other public school is FIT Academy High School, roughly 0.0 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts FIT Academy at 6th of 7; the average score across the group is 45.7%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting. As a public charter, FIT Academy runs on public funding but with greater curricular and operational autonomy than a typical district school.

Five-year trend. FIT Academy's enrollment has expanded 53% since 2018, when it stood at 173 (now 264). Over the same period, the Black share edged up from 15% to 27%.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.