Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02

Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02 is an elementary school of close-knit scale in Colton, South Dakota, part of Tri-Valley School District 49-6, enrolling 154 students in grades K through 4. By comparison, South Dakota's public schools average about 204 students each, so Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02 sits 25% leaner than that benchmark.

Tri-Valley School District 49-6 comprises 4 schools with combined enrollment of 952 students; Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02 is among them.

Demographically, Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02 shows that 90% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school reports 6% Hispanic. By comparison, Minnehaha County as a whole is about 80% White, so the school skews visibly more White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, The school employs 13 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 12.0:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 15.4:1, putting Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02 tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 16% of students at Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02 qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Minnehaha County runs at roughly 42%, so the school's eligibility rate is lower than the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02 performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 56.4%, the actual is 50.4%, a residual of -6.0 points.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Minnehaha County indicate the typical household earns roughly $76,880 per year, about 35% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02 is one of 83 public schools in Minnehaha County (combined enrollment of about 34,919 students).

Tri-Valley Intermediate School - 03 is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 2 other public schools cluster around Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02 at 4th of 7; the average score across the group is 52.6%.

Geographically, the school is in a rural area.

Over the past 7-year window. Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02's enrollment has decreased 70% since 2018, when it stood at 517 (now 154). Black enrollment moved from 8% to 1% across the same window. Class-load math has fell: from 16.2:1 in 2018 to 12.0:1 in 2025.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.