Spearfish Middle School - 05

Spearfish Middle School - 05 is an expansive middle-grades school in Spearfish, South Dakota, one of the schools within Spearfish School District 40-2. The school hosts 545 students in grades 6 through 8. Compared to the state average of about 187 students per school, that is 191% bigger than typical.

Spearfish School District 40-2 runs 7 schools in total, collectively educating 2,398 students. Spearfish Middle School - 05 is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Spearfish Middle School - 05 lists that 87% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Other groups include 5% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

Looking at school resources, Spearfish Middle School - 05 logs 37 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 14.9:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.4:1 average. Around 18% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

With demographic context factored in, Spearfish Middle School - 05 sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 55.7%; this one delivers 47.9%.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Lawrence County indicate the typical household earns roughly $73,384 per year, roughly 33% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. Across Lawrence County's 14 public schools (combined enrollment of about 3,183 students), Spearfish Middle School - 05 is one campus in the mix.

Spearfish High School - 01 is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 6 other public schools cluster around Spearfish Middle School - 05. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Spearfish Middle School - 05 at 4th of 6; the average score across the group is 50.0%.

The school occupies a small-town site.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 7%: 587 students in 2018 compared to 545 in 2025.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.