Walter Hays Elementary

Walter Hays Elementary, a compact primary school in Palo Alto, California, part of Palo Alto Unified, enrolls 305 students, covering grades K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 465 students per school, that is 34% smaller than typical.

Palo Alto Unified comprises 20 schools with combined enrollment of 10,187 students; Walter Hays Elementary is among them.

In terms of who attends, Walter Hays Elementary reports that the largest single group is Asian at 43%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder is composed of 23% White, 20% Hispanic, 10% multiracial. Compared to Santa Clara County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

Looking at school resources, The school employs 15 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 20.5:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Walter Hays Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 17% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Santa Clara County runs at roughly 37%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Walter Hays Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 69.3%; this one delivers 78.5%.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (Santa Clara County) shows that median household income runs about $164,281, about 57% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 4%. Across Santa Clara County's 412 public schools (combined enrollment of about 230,059 students), Walter Hays Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Addison Elementary, roughly 0.5 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Walter Hays Elementary comes 3rd of 8 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 66.0%.

Walter Hays Elementary operates from a metropolitan location.

Looking at the recent track record. Walter Hays Elementary's enrollment has decreased 22% since 2018, when it stood at 389 (now 305). White enrollment moved from 42% to 23% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio grew from 16.1:1 in 2018 to 20.5:1 today.

On this page, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.