Clark Middle School - 03

As an one-room-style middle school in Clark, South Dakota, Clark Middle School - 03 serves 72 students from grades 6 through 8, part of Clark School District 12-2. That puts it 61% smaller than the typical public school in South Dakota, which averages around 187 students.

Clark School District 12-2 comprises 6 schools with combined enrollment of 497 students; Clark Middle School - 03 is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Clark Middle School - 03 reports that 85% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school reports 7% Hispanic, 7% multiracial.

On the resource side, On paper, Clark Middle School - 03 has 7 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 9.9:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.4:1 average. Around 25% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Clark County runs at roughly 36%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Clark Middle School - 03 is in the bottom 10% of South Dakota public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 52.8%; Clark Middle School - 03 posts 30.5%, -22.3 points below that line.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Clark County shows the typical household earns roughly $70,726 per year, roughly 20% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Clark Middle School - 03 is one of 11 public schools in Clark County (combined enrollment of about 820 students).

Clark High School - 01 is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 2 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Clark Middle School - 03 at 4th of 6; the average score across the group is 29.9%.

Geographically, the school is in a rural area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 8%: 78 students in 2018 compared to 72 in 2025. The White share of enrollment shrank from 91% to 85% over that span. Class-load math has pulled in: from 25.3:1 in 2018 to 9.9:1 in 2025.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.