NORTH WOOD ELEM.

As a low-enrollment elementary campus in SALEM, Missouri, NORTH WOOD ELEM. works with 155 students from grades pre-K through 8, run under NORTH WOOD R-IV. Enrollment runs roughly 51% smaller than the state mean of about 315.

NORTH WOOD ELEM. sits inside NORTH WOOD R-IV, the local public-school operator responsible for the campus.

For racial and ethnic makeup, NORTH WOOD ELEM. shows that 90% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school shows 6% Hispanic. Compared to Dent County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, NORTH WOOD ELEM. has 15 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 10.4:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 12.4:1, putting NORTH WOOD ELEM. tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 64% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Dent County runs at roughly 73%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, NORTH WOOD ELEM. sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 50.1%; this one delivers 45.2%.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Dent County indicate median household income runs about $56,312, roughly 17% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. NORTH WOOD ELEM. is one of 9 public schools in Dent County (combined enrollment of about 2,169 students).

The closest other public school is OZARK HILLS SCHOOL, roughly 2.8 miles away. Within five miles, there are 5 other public schools. On composite proficiency, NORTH WOOD ELEM. comes 5th of 7 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 45.4%.

The school occupies a countryside site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 30%: 222 students in 2018 compared to 155 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment ticked up from 1% to 6% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 12.9:1 in 2018 to 10.4:1 today.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.