SPESSARD L HOLLAND ELEMENTARY

SPESSARD L HOLLAND ELEMENTARY is one of the mid-tier K-5 schools in BARTOW, Florida, operated by POLK, with 843 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 40% larger than the state mean of about 604.

SPESSARD L HOLLAND ELEMENTARY is one of 163 schools operated by POLK, a district that teaches 116,552 students overall.

In terms of who attends, SPESSARD L HOLLAND ELEMENTARY shows that 35% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school logs 30% Hispanic, 28% Black, 4% multiracial. That is visibly less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 56%.

On the income-and-resources front, SPESSARD L HOLLAND ELEMENTARY reports 49 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 17.2:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 65% of students at SPESSARD L HOLLAND ELEMENTARY qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, SPESSARD L HOLLAND ELEMENTARY tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 48.8% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 47.9%.

Around the school, the surrounding county (Polk County) logs that median household earnings sit near $65,978, 24% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. SPESSARD L HOLLAND ELEMENTARY is one of 172 public schools in Polk County (combined enrollment of about 117,004 students).

Nearest neighbor: MI ESCUELA MONTESSORI, around 0.4 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, SPESSARD L HOLLAND ELEMENTARY comes 6th of 6 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 56.2%.

The school occupies a low-density site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at SPESSARD L HOLLAND ELEMENTARY has rose 19%, going from 711 students in 2018 to 843 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share contracted from 52% to 35%. Class-load math has loosened: from 15.5:1 in 2018 to 17.2:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.