Sonnie Hereford Elementary School

Set in Huntsville, Alabama, Sonnie Hereford Elementary School is a medium-sized elementary-level community, overseen by Huntsville City. It hosts 578 students across grades pre-K through 6. Compared to the state average of about 480 students per school, that is 20% larger than typical.

Within Huntsville City, which oversees 44 schools and 24,222 students, Sonnie Hereford Elementary School is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Sonnie Hereford Elementary School reports that 62% of the student body identifies as Black; the rest is composed of 21% Hispanic, 10% multiracial, 6% White. The wider county runs roughly 24% Black, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Black than the area baseline.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Sonnie Hereford Elementary School has 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 18.6:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 17.0:1, putting Sonnie Hereford Elementary School higher than the state norm the norm. An estimated 79% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Madison County runs at roughly 41%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Sonnie Hereford Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 26.3%; this one delivers 21.6%.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Madison County indicate median household earnings sit near $86,499, roughly 46% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. Across Madison County's 89 public schools (combined enrollment of about 55,800 students), Sonnie Hereford Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Montview Elementary School, roughly 1.6 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Sonnie Hereford Elementary School. On composite proficiency, Sonnie Hereford Elementary School comes 9th of 9 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 37.2%.

The campus sits in a downtown setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked up 5%: 550 students in 2018 compared to 578 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 69% to 62% across the same window.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.