Northern Elementary

Northern Elementary operates as a modestly sized primary school in BEMIDJI, Minnesota, operated by Bemidji Public School District. Current enrollment sits at 282 students spanning grades pre-K through 3.

Bemidji Public School District comprises 14 schools with combined enrollment of 4,722 students; Northern Elementary is among them.

On demographics, Northern Elementary lists that White students make up the majority at 77%. Beyond that, the school lists 16% Native American, 4% Hispanic, 3% multiracial.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Northern Elementary records 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 14.2:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 34% of students at Northern Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Beltrami County (around 54%), the school's rate is meaningfully below typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Northern Elementary sits in the top 10% of Minnesota schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 46.6%; actual is 61.2%, +14.7 points clear of the demographic baseline.

In the broader community, ACS estimates for Beltrami County put median household earnings sit near $68,975, roughly 32% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. Northern Elementary is one of 38 public schools in Beltrami County (combined enrollment of about 8,088 students).

Voyageurs Expeditionary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 3.4 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Northern Elementary comes 1st of 7 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 21.9%.

The school occupies a rural site.

Looking at the recent track record. Northern Elementary's enrollment has fell 44% since 2018, when it stood at 507 (now 282). The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 17.8:1 in 2018 to 14.2:1 today.

Inside the community feed, members of the Northern Elementary community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.