STAARS

STAARS is a very small four-year high school in HASTINGS, Minnesota, overseen by Hastings Public School District. The school instructs 8 students in grade 12. Enrollment runs roughly 98% below the state mean of about 371.

Hastings Public School District runs 11 schools in total, collectively educating 4,041 students. STAARS is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, STAARS shows that 50% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups; the rest looks like 25% Hispanic, 25% Black. The wider county runs roughly 74% White, putting the school's mix noticeably less White than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 1 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 8.0:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 16.3:1 average.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Dakota County put the typical household earns roughly $106,318 per year, about 45% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 4%. In all, Dakota County runs 170 public schools (combined enrollment of about 74,687 students), of which STAARS is one.

Nearest neighbor: Hastings Early Child Special Ed., around 0.0 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The campus sits in a town-center setting.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at STAARS has declined 50%, going from 16 students in 2018 to 8 in 2025. The White share of enrollment ticked down from 88% to 50% over that span.

In the discussion threads here, members of the STAARS community share and discuss school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.