Palmetto Elementary

As a medium-sized primary school in Fontana, California, Palmetto Elementary teaches 577 students from grades K through 5, run under Fontana Unified. That puts it 24% bigger than the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Fontana Unified comprises 44 schools with combined enrollment of 32,735 students; Palmetto Elementary is among them.

On the student-mix side, Palmetto Elementary records that 91% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. The remainder consists of 4% White, 3% Black. That is considerably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 55%.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 27 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 21.7:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 93% of students at Palmetto Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against San Bernardino County (around 74%), the school's rate is meaningfully above typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Palmetto Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 24.3% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 24.9%.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (San Bernardino County) records that median household earnings sit near $85,478, about 23% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. Palmetto Elementary is one of 583 public schools in San Bernardino County (combined enrollment of about 393,648 students).

The closest other public school is Dolores Huerta International Academy, roughly 0.7 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Palmetto Elementary comes 4th of 9 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 25.4%.

Geographically, the school is in a commuter-belt area.

Five-year trend. Palmetto Elementary's enrollment has decreased 29% since 2018, when it stood at 812 (now 577). The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 25.6:1 in 2018 to 21.7:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.