James L Cowart Elementary School

James L Cowart Elementary School is a K-5 school of intimate scale in Athens, Alabama, operated by Athens City, caters to 332 students in grades pre-K through 3. That puts it 31% below the typical public school in Alabama, which averages around 480 students.

Athens City runs 9 schools in total, collectively educating 5,405 students. James L Cowart Elementary School is one of those campuses.

On demographics, James L Cowart Elementary School shows that the most-represented group is White (36%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 28% Black, 27% Hispanic, 8% multiracial. That is considerably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 74%.

On the resource side, James L Cowart Elementary School logs 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 16.6:1. The state averages about 17.0:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Roughly 69% of students at James L Cowart Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Limestone County runs at roughly 54%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, James L Cowart Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 33.6%, the actual is 48.4%, a residual of +14.7 points.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Limestone County indicate median household earnings sit near $83,629, roughly 30% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. James L Cowart Elementary School is one of 27 public schools in Limestone County (combined enrollment of about 24,258 students).

Athens Intermediate School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.8 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts James L Cowart Elementary School at 1st of 7; the average score across the group is 39.9%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 11%: 371 students in 2018 compared to 332 in 2025. The White share of enrollment edged down from 51% to 36% over that span. Class-load math has fell: from 17.7:1 in 2018 to 16.6:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.