Lowell Elementary - 28

Lowell Elementary - 28 is an elementary campus of roomy scale in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, run under Sioux Falls School District 49-5, educateing 426 students in grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 109% above the state mean of about 204.

Across the 44 schools in Sioux Falls School District 49-5 (25,060 students total), Lowell Elementary - 28 accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Lowell Elementary - 28 logs that 34% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups; the rest breaks down as 27% White, 13% Native American, 13% Black, 10% multiracial. By comparison, Minnehaha County as a whole is about 7% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, The school lists 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 14.3:1. The state averages around 15.4:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 87% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Minnehaha County (around 42%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Lowell Elementary - 28 performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 27.2%, the actual is 29.7%, a residual of +2.5 points.

Zooming out to the county, Minnehaha County reports that median household earnings sit near $76,880, roughly 35% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Minnehaha County runs 83 public schools (combined enrollment of about 34,919 students), of which Lowell Elementary - 28 is one.

Sonia Sotomayor Elementary - 65 is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Lowell Elementary - 28 ranks 5th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 40.6%.

The school occupies a city-core site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 12%: 484 students in 2018 compared to 426 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share rose from 15% to 34%.

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