The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Loomis Secondary School
Loomis Secondary School serves about one hundred students across grades seven through twelve in the small agricultural village of Loomis, Nebraska, roughly seven miles west of the county seat, Holdrege. The school is the sole secondary campus of Loomis Public Schools, a district that has grown its enrollment through open-option enrollment in recent years, even as the village itself has remained largely stable in population. The building received a significant addition in a recent year, adding a media library, shop space, a wrestling room, a weight room, and additional classrooms, a clear investment in the facility that families considering the school may want to learn more about.
The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population making up roughly a tenth of the enrollment. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a share that is moderate for a rural Nebraska district. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it does not have a Title I designation in the available data. No information on students with Individualized Education Programs or English learner status was reported, which is a notable gap for any family concerned with special education or language support.
State testing results are available only for seventh and eighth grade, because Nebraska administers its general assessment in those grades, not at the high school level. For the most recent testing year, the proficiency rates in both math and English language arts at seventh and eighth grade were zero percent. This is an unusually low result, and a parent would want to discuss directly with the school how the curriculum aligns with state standards and what support structures are in place, given that the number of students tested in each grade is small enough that a few students can heavily influence a rate. The school’s overall proficiency index, calculated across all tested subjects and grades, placed it in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Phelps County. No graduation rate was available in the data, though the school does serve twelfth grade.
The community context is defined by agriculture and volunteer effort. The local economy centers on Agri Co-op, which built a large fertilizer plant in a recent year, and a bridal business that draws customers regionally. The village itself is tiny, with a compact downtown along Commercial Street that includes the village office and a youth center that teens opened in a storefront. Housing values in the area are notably more affordable than the national median, and the village’s owner-occupancy rate is high. Two annual community events, Turkey Days and Loomis Community Days, anchor the social calendar. Families should expect a quiet, auto-dependent setting with no public transit and limited commercial amenities; the county seat of Holdrege provides additional services.
The district brief showed no recent parent-relevant changes such as referendums, boundary adjustments, or curriculum shifts in the available public reporting. This is not unusual for a small district, but it means there is no obvious recent disruption or reform to weigh.
For a family considering Loomis Secondary School, the picture is of a very small rural school with a recent facilities upgrade, a student body that is homogeneous by background, and state test results that raise direct questions about academic performance in the middle grades. The lack of high school assessment data, graduation rate, and special population counts means several key questions cannot be answered from the available record. A family with older students or specific academic needs would be well served by a direct conversation with the principal about course offerings, postsecondary pathways, and how the school supports students who are struggling.
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