Ltg Richard J. Seitz Elementary, Ft. Riley KS

Original Research by School Decision on Ltg Richard J. Seitz Elementary

LTG Richard J. Seitz Elementary is a public school located on the Fort Riley Army installation in Kansas, serving students from prekindergarten through fifth grade. Because the school is situated on an active military base, its character is shaped directly by that setting. Fort Riley is not a civilian town; it is a United States Army installation with family housing, training areas, and support facilities. The two primary nearby civilian communities are Junction City, described as mostly a military town, and Manhattan, a college town home to Kansas State University. The school belongs to the Geary County Schools district, a district that has publicly reported that more than half of its students are connected to the U.S. Army.

The school's enrollment is moderately sized for an elementary school serving grades PK through 5. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse. About half of the students are white, with the next largest groups being Hispanic students and Black students, and smaller shares of students who are two or more races, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Asian, or American Indian or Alaska Native. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on the share of students with individualized education plans and the share of English learners was not available. This is a gap a parent may want to follow up on with the school.

On state assessments, results are mixed. In English language arts, proficiency rates are roughly in the range where about two in five to half of students meet the state standard, depending on grade level. In math, proficiency rates are lower, with roughly one in four to a bit more than a third of students meeting the standard. In science, available only for fifth grade, just over two in five students are proficient. These are overall school-level numbers that include all tested students. The state has changed its cut scores for these assessments, which makes it difficult to compare these results with those from previous years; a parent should treat these figures as a current snapshot rather than a trend. The school does not serve high school grades and therefore has no graduation rate to report.

The district, Geary County Schools, opened a new elementary school on the Fort Riley base in the 2023-2024 school year as part of a six-year capital plan focused on upgrading facilities. This is a lasting change that directly affects school assignment and capacity for military families. The district's comparison set, relative to other districts in Geary County, is too small to produce meaningful proficiency or attendance comparisons, so the school's performance is best understood in the context of its own reported numbers rather than in relation to nearby districts.

For a family considering this school, the most important factor is the military base setting. The student population is almost entirely made up of children of active-duty service members and their families, and the school operates within the rhythms of the installation. The built environment is car-oriented, with areas of the base spread across a large reservation; there is no traditional civilian downtown or street life. The nearby civilian towns of Junction City and Manhattan provide the region's commercial and cultural anchors. The school's academic profile shows areas of relative strength in English language arts, while math proficiency is a softer spot that a family may want to inquire about with the school directly. The absence of data on special education and English learner populations is another area where asking the school directly would be prudent. The school has no charter status, and its Title I status was not reported.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 40% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 51% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 44% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 53% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 52% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 1 pts above state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 50% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

This schoolGeary County Schools, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income42%Higher-income46%4 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income33%Higher-income50%17 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income41%Higher-income56%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income38%Higher-income33%4 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income33%Higher-income42%8 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income19%Higher-income28%9 pp gap