Original Research by School Decision on Morris Elementary
Morris Elementary serves a single purpose: it is where the youngest students in the Bondurant-Farrar Community School District begin their school journey. The school takes children from prekindergarten through second grade, meaning that every child who enters will move on to another building after two years. There are no state testing results for this school, and that is entirely a function of the grade band – Iowa does not administer standardized assessments at these early levels, so a parent will not find proficiency data here. Similarly, there is no graduation rate, no chronic absenteeism rate, and no course access metrics, all of which follow naturally from the age of the students.
The enrollment is substantial for a school that covers only five grade levels. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Black, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and two-or-more-races students represented. A modest proportion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a fairly low share for the state. Data on special education and English learner enrollment was not reported, so a parent who wants to understand those supports would need to ask the school directly.
Morris Elementary sits within Bondurant, a suburb of Des Moines that is one of the fastest-growing cities in Iowa. The community is family-oriented, with a young median age and a high share of households with children. The town is car-dependent, accessed mainly by U.S. Route 65, and has limited public transit. Its social and recreational life centers on the Bondurant Regional Trailhead and the Chichaqua Valley Trail, which provide walking and cycling corridors. The city promotes a quiet small-town lifestyle with proximity to Des Moines, Altoona, and Ankeny – all short drives.
The larger district that runs Morris Elementary has been acting on its growth. A new junior high school building opened in 2022 on the Grant Street campus, alongside the existing high school and Bluejay Stadium, giving seventh and eighth graders their own facility. The district projects continued annual enrollment growth, which is consistent with Bondurant’s rapid population increase. For a family, this means that a child starting at Morris Elementary will feed into a system that is actively expanding and reconfiguring its buildings to accommodate more students.
The school itself is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and does not carry Title I status – a notation worth checking with the district, as it can affect federal funding and targeted support. The absence of Title I data may simply reflect that it was not reported, rather than meaning the school does not participate.
For a parent looking at this school, the picture is straightforward. Morris Elementary is the entry point in a growing school district in a fast-expanding suburb. There is no test-based academic record to inspect, so the decision rests on the feel of the school, the district’s trajectory, and fit with a family’s values around early childhood education. The surrounding community is residential, young, and oriented toward family life, with schools that are keeping pace with the population surge. A parent who wants more detail on classroom practice, support services, or early literacy approaches would need to reach out to the school directly – the published data here defines the contours of the place but does not reach into daily instruction.
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