Bison Jr. High - 04

Bison Jr. High - 04 operates as a very small 6-8 campus in Bison, South Dakota, operated by Bison School District 52-1. Current enrollment sits at 18 students spanning grades 7 through 8. Compared to the state average of about 187 students per school, that is 90% leaner than typical.

Within Bison School District 52-1, which oversees 3 schools and 135 students, Bison Jr. High - 04 is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Bison Jr. High - 04 logs that nearly all students (83%) are White; the rest comes out to 6% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, 6% Native American. That is visibly less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 93%.

On the income-and-resources front, The school reports having 2 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 9.1:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.4:1 average. An estimated 17% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Perkins County runs at roughly 36%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Bison Jr. High - 04 performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 56.2%, the actual is 52.0%, a residual of -4.2 points.

Around the school, Perkins County reports that median household earnings sit near $66,908, roughly 25% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. Bison Jr. High - 04 is one of 6 public schools in Perkins County (combined enrollment of about 424 students).

Nearest neighbor: Bison High School - 01, around 0.0 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 2 other public schools cluster around Bison Jr. High - 04. Among the 4 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Bison Jr. High - 04 ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 48.0%.

Bison Jr. High - 04 operates from a rural location.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 28%: 25 students in 2018 compared to 18 in 2025. Class-load math has narrowed: from 10.6:1 in 2018 to 9.1:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the feed for Bison Jr. High - 04 typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.