Nettelhorst Elem School

Nettelhorst Elem School, a high-enrollment elementary-level community in Chicago, Illinois, overseen by Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, works with 653 students, covering grades pre-K through 8. Compared to the state average of about 381 students per school, that is 71% above typical.

Nettelhorst Elem School is one of 622 schools operated by Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, a district that caters to 324,396 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Nettelhorst Elem School lists that 55% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Other groups include 15% Hispanic, 12% multiracial, 10% Asian, 8% Black. The wider county runs roughly 44% White, putting the school's mix visibly more White than the area baseline.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Nettelhorst Elem School has 45 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.6:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 19% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is south of Cook County's rate of about 66%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Nettelhorst Elem School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 60.4%, the actual is 65.9%, a residual of +5.5 points.

In the area at large, census data for Cook County shows median household income runs about $83,498, roughly 43% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Cook County runs 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), of which Nettelhorst Elem School is one.

Inter-American Elem Magnet School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Nettelhorst Elem School comes 5th of 9 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 63.7%.

The campus sits in an urban setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 18%: 794 students in 2018 compared to 653 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment edged down from 12% to 8% over that span. Class-load math has narrowed: from 17.8:1 in 2018 to 14.6:1 in 2025.

On this page, 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.