The Des Moines Public Schools (The Des Moines Independent Community School District, or DMPS) is the largest public school district

School district

School districts are a form of special-purpose district which serves to operate the local public primary and secondary schools.-United States:...

 in Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

. It is accredited by the North Central Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools , also known as the North Central Association, is a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states, that is engaged in educational accreditation...

 and the Iowa Department of Education.

High ("Secondary") schools

• East High School
  East High School (Des Moines)
  East High School, usually referred to simply as East, is a secondary school located in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. East was the third largest high school in Iowa with 2,115 students, following Lincoln and West in Davenport as of the 2005-2006 school year...
  
  
• Hoover High School
  Herbert Hoover High School (Des Moines)
  Herbert Hoover High School, usually referred to simply as Hoover High School or Hoover, is a secondary school located on the Northwest side of Des Moines, Iowa. It is one of five secondary schools under the district of the Des Moines Public Schools, and was named after the 31st United States...
  
  
• Lincoln High School
• North High School
  North High School (Des Moines)
  North High School, usually referred to simply as North, is a secondary school located in Des Moines, Iowa. It is one of five secondary schools under the district of the Des Moines Public Schools.The school's mascot is the Polar Bear.-Curriculum:...
  
  
• Roosevelt High School
  Theodore Roosevelt High School (Des Moines)
  Theodore Roosevelt High School, usually referred to simply as Roosevelt High School or TRHS, is a secondary school located on the west side of Des Moines, Iowa...
  
  

Special schools & programs

• Scavo Campus — an alternative high school program, named after Vincent C. Scavo. It is on the first floor of a former Model-T factory known as Central Campus.
• Van Meter School
• Central Academy
  Central Academy (Des Moines)
  Central Academy is a public magnet school located at 1912 Grand Avenue in Des Moines, Iowa for students between grades 6 and 12. Commissioned by the Des Moines Public Schools in 1985, the Academy has played host to some of the brightest minds in the state. The school is nationally recognized for...
  
  

Middle ("Intermediate") schools

• Brody Middle School
• Callanan Middle School
• Goodrell Middle School
• Harding Middle School
• Hiatt Middle School
• Hoyt Middle School
• McCombs Middle School
• Meredith Middle School
• Merrill Middle School
• Weeks Middle School

Elementary ("Primary") schools

• Adams Elementary School
• Brubaker Elementary School
• Capitol View Elementary School
• Carver Community School (est. 2007)
• Cattell Elementary School
• Cowles Elementary School
• Downtown Elementary School
• Edmunds Elementary School
• Daniela Elementary school
• Garton Elementary School
• Granger Elementary School
• Greenwood Elementary School
• Hanawalt Elementary School
• Hillis Elementary School
• Howe Elementary School
• Hubbell Elementary School
• Jackson Elementary School
• Jefferson Elementary Traditional School
• King Elementary School
• Lovejoy Elementary School
• Madison Elementary School
• McKinley Elementary School
• Mitchell Elementary School
• Monroe Elementary School
• Moore Elementary School (closed)
• Morris Elementary School
• Moulton Elementary School
• Oak Park Elementary School
• Park Avenue Elementary School
• Perkins Elementary School
• Phillips Elementary School
• Pleasant Hill Elementary School
• Riley Elementary School (Closed 1973)
• River Woods Elementary School
• Samuelson Elementary School (Closed in 1983; re-opened in 2008 with staff and students from Woodlawn Elementary School)
• Smouse Elementary School
• South Union Elementary School
• Stowe Elementary School
• Studebaker Elementary School
• Wallace Elementary School (Closed 2007)
• Washington School (Closed 1983)
• Willard Elementary School
• Windsor Elementary School
• Woodlawn Elementary School (Closed 2008)
• Wright Elementary School

Administration

School board elections are held every year to fill in vacant seats on the school board. The school board meets regularly at 6:00 PM Central Time on the first and third Tuesdays of every month.

Superintendents

|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
! # !! Superintendent !! Start of term !! End of term
|-
| 12>

Dr. Nancy Sebring

July 1, 2006

>- | 11

Dr. Eric A. Witherspoon

1998

>- | 10

Dr. Gary Wegenke

1988

>- | 9

William Anderson

1980

>- | 8

Dr. Dwight M. Davis

1964

>- | 7

Dr. John H. Harris

1957

>- | 6

Cress O. Hoyt

1956

>- | 5

Newell D. McCombs

1941

>- | 4

A. W. Merrill

1937

>- | 3

John W. Studebaker

1920

>- | 2

Z. C. Thornberg

1913

>- | 1

W. O. Riddell

1907

Media

• Channel 12 is the school district's Educational-access television cable TV channel, which is provided through Mediacom Cable Television as part of a franchise agreement with the City of Des Moines. The district televises their school board meetings through this network.

Enrollment

|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
! Year !! District-wide !! High schools !! Middle schools !! Elementary schools !! Other programs & adjustments
|- bgcolor="#FFAFAF"
| 2006-2007 >

31,221

8,808

6,405

14,369

>- bgcolor="#FFAFAF" | 2005-2006

31,599

8,570

6,610

14,249

>- bgcolor="#FFAFAF" | 2004-2005

31,851

8,620

6,876

14,384

>- bgcolor="#FFAFAF" | 2003-2004

32,150

8,430

7,115

14,497

>- bgcolor="#FFAFAF" | 2002-2003

32,464

8,696

7,103

14,733

>- | 2001-2002

35,399

10,114

5,504

19,541

>- | 2000-2001

34,776

9,773

8,116

16,699

• Note: The table rows shown in red represents data that was cited directly from the Des Moines Public Schools enrollment reports. Some of this data conflicts with data from the Iowa Department of Education annual reports. This is because the underlying data is complex, and the table above is a summary of the data collected from the two sources.

Requirements

High school graduation requirements are determined on a district-wide scope by the School Board. The district has been pressured to make graduation requirements more challenging, as students must be adequately prepared for higher education or competitive enough to work in today's business world.

Credits are units of measure in determining an individual student's progress through High School. For each course semester in which a student completes (with a grade of D- or better), they are awarded one-half credit unit, with the exception of Physical Education (one semester of P.E. is equal to an eighth of a credit).

The table below shows the graduation requirements for each of the graduating classes by year: |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
! Graduating Year !! Total Req. !! Social Studies !! English !! Mathematics !! Science !! Fine/Applied Arts !! Physical Education
|-
| 2009 >

23.0

3.0

3.5

3.0

3.0

1.5

>- | 2008

21.0

3.0

3.5

2.0

2.0

1.5

>- | 2007

21.0

3.0

3.5

2.0

2.0

1.5

>- | 2006

21.0

3.0

3.5

2.0

2.0

1.5

See also

• Lists of school districts in the United States
• List of school districts in Iowa

External links

• Des Moines Public Schools Homepage
• Channel 12 Des Moines Public Schools Programming