THOMPSON ELEMENTARY

Set in RUSKIN, Florida, THOMPSON ELEMENTARY is a medium-sized K-5 school, run under HILLSBOROUGH. It instructs 789 students across grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 31% above the typical public school in Florida, which averages around 604 students.

HILLSBOROUGH runs 300 schools in total, collectively educating 221,318 students. THOMPSON ELEMENTARY is one of those campuses.

In terms of who attends, THOMPSON ELEMENTARY records that 55% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. Beyond that, the school records 28% Black, 13% White, 4% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 30% Hispanic, putting the school's mix considerably more Hispanic than the area baseline.

In terms of school funding signals, The school lists 46 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 17.2:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 65% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Hillsborough County (around 43%), the school's rate is somewhat above typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), THOMPSON ELEMENTARY performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 48.6%, the actual is 35.7%, a residual of -12.9 points.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Hillsborough County indicate median household earnings sit near $79,540, roughly 38% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Hillsborough County runs 320 public schools (combined enrollment of about 223,193 students), of which THOMPSON ELEMENTARY is one.

LENNARD HIGH SCHOOL is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts THOMPSON ELEMENTARY at 7th of 9; the average score across the group is 48.8%.

The school occupies an outer-ring site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 5%: 830 students in 2018 compared to 789 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment rose from 20% to 28% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio loosened from 14.6:1 in 2018 to 17.2:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.