Clayton Elementary School

Set in Clayton, Delaware, Clayton Elementary School is a middle-of-the-pack elementary school, operated by Smyrna School District. It hosts 487 students across grades K through 4.

Smyrna School District comprises 8 schools with combined enrollment of 5,887 students; Clayton Elementary School is among them.

On demographics, Clayton Elementary School logs that the largest single group is White, at 62% of enrollment. Other groups include 27% Black, 9% Hispanic, 2% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 17.4:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.9:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Kent County shows the typical household earns roughly $74,477 per year, roughly 28% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Kent County runs 55 public schools (combined enrollment of about 31,256 students), of which Clayton Elementary School is one.

First State Military Academy is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools.

The campus sits in a bedroom-community setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 5%: 514 students in 2018 compared to 487 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share expanded from 12% to 27%.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Clayton Elementary School community share and discuss school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.