I drove past Eugene Field A+ Elementary three times before I actually parked — not because it's hard to find on South Highland, but because I was trying to remember what the building looked like when I was a kid. It's changed, obviously. Fresh paint, newer playground equipment, but that same solid brick presence that makes you think the school has been here longer than most of the houses around it.
The A+ designation isn't just branding — it's the arts-integration model they've been running for years, which means kids aren't just sitting at desks all day. They're moving, creating, building things with their hands. I've heard parents talk about their second-graders coming home excited about math because they learned it through rhythm patterns, or reading comprehension taught through theater games. That kind of learning sticks differently than worksheets.
Highland Avenue is quiet here, tree-lined, the kind of street where you see families walking to school in the morning. The neighborhood has that older Sioux Falls feel — not the new developments out by 85th or the sprawl near Western Avenue. These are homes with character, porches, the occasional chain-link fence. The school fits right in.
What strikes me most is how the staff actually seems to know the kids. Not in a surface way — I mean they know which kid needs extra time in the morning to settle in, which one lights up during art class, who's having a rough week at home. That's harder to maintain than people think, especially as class sizes grow and budgets get tight. Some years are better than others for that kind of attention.
The building itself won't win architecture awards, but that's not the point. It's a neighborhood school doing the kind of steady, unglamorous work that shapes how a kid feels about learning for the rest of their life. That matters more than most things.
— Grace