Original Research by School Decision on Great Oak
Great Oak is a school district in Iowa that currently does not serve any students. It is listed as a middle-school-only district, but whether it has ever operated as a conventional public district is unclear. The only school tied to the district, Oakmont, is marked as a "future" school, not yet open. A publicly reported state education board action from early 2025 describes the approval of a charter contract for a new Great Oaks High School and Career Center in Des Moines, set to open in the 2026–2027 school year, serving nontraditional high school students and opportunity youth. This appears to be the same entity, operating under a charter school model rather than as a traditional district.
Because the district has no operating schools, there is no enrollment, no student demographics, no state assessment results, no graduation rate, no chronic absenteeism data, and no per-pupil spending figure. There are no program offerings to describe, no civil rights or disciplinary data, and no locale brief for a community because the district does not have a fixed attendance area in the conventional sense. The comparison with Polk County's other districts is not possible on any of the standard academic or financial metrics because the district lacks tested students or a graduating class.
A parent or resident looking at Great Oak will find an entity in an early formation stage, not a place with a track record or a peer environment. The only concrete detail available is the planned charter school for Des Moines South, which is described as targeting students who have faced significant challenges and who may not have succeeded in a traditional high school setting, offering career and technical education, personalized learning, wraparound support, and work-based learning. That is a specific mission for a specific population, not a general-purpose district. For families exploring typical K-12 options, there is no operating school to evaluate. For families whose student fits the description of a nontraditional or opportunity youth, this may become an option once the school opens, but at this point it is a future project, not a current one.
See more original research from School Decision →