Straub Middle School

Located at 1920 Wilmington Ave NW, in Salem, Oregon, Straub Middle School is a reasonably sized junior high that hosts 568 students (grades 6 through 8), operated by Salem-Keizer SD 24J.

Across the 65 schools in Salem-Keizer SD 24J (37,776 students total), Straub Middle School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Straub Middle School lists that White students make up the majority at 63%; the rest looks like 19% Hispanic, 10% multiracial, 4% Asian, 3% Black. By comparison, Polk County as a whole is about 78% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Straub Middle School has 26 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 22.1:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 19.3:1, putting Straub Middle School higher than the state norm the norm. About 89% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Straub Middle School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 28.2%, the actual is 37.7%, a residual of +9.5 points.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Polk County indicate median household income runs about $85,118, 31% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. Across Polk County's 24 public schools (combined enrollment of about 11,121 students), Straub Middle School is one campus in the mix.

Kalapuya Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Straub Middle School. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Straub Middle School ranks 4th on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 33.3%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Straub Middle School has decreased 10%, going from 628 students in 2018 to 568 in 2025. The White share of enrollment fell from 73% to 63% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 24.2:1 in 2018 to 22.1:1 today.

On this page, members of the Straub Middle School community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.