Dakota Valley Middle School - 03

Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 is a substantial middle school in North Sioux City, South Dakota, overseen by Dakota Valley School District 61-8. The school enrolls 345 students in grades 6 through 8. By comparison, South Dakota's public schools average about 187 students each, so Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 sits 84% larger than that benchmark.

Within Dakota Valley School District 61-8, which oversees 4 schools and 1,341 students, Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 is one campus in the system.

Looking at the student body, Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 logs that 74% of the student body identifies as White. The remainder looks like 10% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 3% Asian, 2% Black. By comparison, Union County as a whole is about 90% White, so the school skews noticeably less White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 has 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 17.1:1. The state averages around 13.4:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 12% of students at Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

With demographic context factored in, Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 57.9%; this one delivers 57.5%.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Union County) records that the typical household earns roughly $89,636 per year, about 37% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 4%. Across Union County's 14 public schools (combined enrollment of about 3,037 students), Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 is one campus in the mix.

Dakota Valley High School - 01 is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 6 other public schools cluster around Dakota Valley Middle School - 03. On composite proficiency, Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 comes 4th of 7 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 58.3%.

Geographically, the school is in a residential area.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 has edged up 14%, going from 303 students in 2018 to 345 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 84% to 74% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 27.6:1 in 2018 to 17.1:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 community share and discuss enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.