B. W. Tinker School

Located at 809 Highland Ave., in Waterbury, Connecticut, B. W. Tinker School is a sprawling elementary-level community that works with 578 students (grades pre-K through 5), operated by Waterbury School District. That puts it 53% larger than the typical public school in Connecticut, which averages around 378 students.

B. W. Tinker School is one of 29 schools operated by Waterbury School District, a district that instructs 17,123 students overall.

Looking at the student body, B. W. Tinker School logs that 64% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. The remainder comes out to 17% Black, 13% White, 5% multiracial. That is visibly more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 20%.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 36 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 15.9:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 12.6:1, putting B. W. Tinker School higher than the state norm the norm. Roughly 75% of students at B. W. Tinker School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Naugatuck Valley Planning Region runs at roughly 52%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Naugatuck Valley Planning Region indicate median household earnings sit near $86,191, roughly 34% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. B. W. Tinker School is one of 121 public schools in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region (combined enrollment of about 59,861 students).

Duggan School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around B. W. Tinker School.

Geographically, the school is in a city-core area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count stayed largely flat: 574 students in 2018 compared to 578 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share shrank from 29% to 13%. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 17.1:1 in 2018 to 15.9:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the B. W. Tinker School community share and discuss science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.