Pinedale Elementary - 11

As a large elementary campus in Rapid City, South Dakota, Pinedale Elementary - 11 instructs 377 students from grades K through 5, run under Rapid City Area School District 51-4. Enrollment runs roughly 85% bigger than the state mean of about 204.

Across the 26 schools in Rapid City Area School District 51-4 (12,610 students total), Pinedale Elementary - 11 accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Pinedale Elementary - 11 logs that the largest single group is White, at 80% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school shows 8% multiracial, 6% Hispanic, 3% Native American. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

In terms of school funding signals, The school lists 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 16.8:1. The state averages around 15.4:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. About 14% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Pennington County runs at roughly 41%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Pinedale Elementary - 11 performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 57.3%, the actual is 58.4%, a residual of +1.1 points.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Pennington County indicate the typical household earns roughly $74,517 per year, about 35% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. Across Pennington County's 41 public schools (combined enrollment of about 16,186 students), Pinedale Elementary - 11 is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is South Canyon Elementary - 15, roughly 0.8 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Pinedale Elementary - 11 at 3rd of 6; the average score across the group is 53.4%.

The school occupies a city-core site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 9%: 416 students in 2018 compared to 377 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 86% to 80% across the same window. Class-load math has tightened: from 18.1:1 in 2018 to 16.8:1 in 2025.

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.