James Hart School

James Hart School is a junior high of moderately sized scale in Homewood, Illinois, overseen by Homewood SD 153, works with 681 students in grades 6 through 8. That puts it 47% larger than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 462 students.

Homewood SD 153 comprises 3 schools with combined enrollment of 1,856 students; James Hart School is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, James Hart School lists that 57% of the student body identifies as Black. Other groups include 21% White, 15% Hispanic, 7% multiracial. By comparison, Cook County as a whole is about 22% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, James Hart School records 61 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 11.2:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.0:1, putting James Hart School tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 47% of students at James Hart School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Cook County runs at roughly 66%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, James Hart School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 44.5%; this one delivers 44.8%.

Across the wider county, census data for Cook County shows the typical household earns roughly $83,498 per year, 43% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. James Hart School is one of 1406 public schools in Cook County (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students).

Nearest neighbor: Longwood Elem School, around 0.7 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, James Hart School comes 2nd of 8 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 35.0%.

The school occupies a suburban site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at James Hart School has fell 7%, going from 730 students in 2018 to 681 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share fell from 27% to 21%.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.