POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Set in LAKE WALES, Florida, POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a reasonably sized elementary school, one of the schools within POLK. It enrolls 523 students across grades pre-K through 5.

POLK comprises 163 schools with combined enrollment of 116,552 students; POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is among them.

In terms of who attends, POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL lists that the most-represented group is Hispanic (49%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder consists of 27% White, 21% Black. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 29%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school lists 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 17.4:1. The state averages about 17.5:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 99% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is above Polk County's rate of about 65%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 31.5%; this one delivers 43.2%.

Across the wider county, ACS estimates for Polk County put the typical household earns roughly $65,978 per year, roughly 24% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Polk County's 172 public schools (combined enrollment of about 117,004 students), POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE, roughly 0.6 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. On composite proficiency, POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL comes 4th of 7 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 45.5%.

POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL operates from a suburban location. POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a charter school, which puts it inside the public-school system but outside the standard district-managed model.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count showed little movement: 522 students in 2018 compared to 523 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share ticked up from 42% to 49%. Class-load math has loosened: from 15.3:1 in 2018 to 17.4:1 in 2025.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.