Thomas Elementary School

Thomas Elementary School, a medium-sized elementary campus in Carbondale, Illinois, overseen by Carbondale ESD 95, teaches 400 students, covering grades 2 through 3.

Carbondale ESD 95 runs 4 schools in total, collectively educating 1,648 students. Thomas Elementary School is one of those campuses.

On demographics, Thomas Elementary School records that the largest single group is Black at 51%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school records 25% White, 12% Hispanic, 10% multiracial. That is noticeably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 14%.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 29 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 13.8:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 75% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Thomas Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 28.2%, the actual is 18.6%, a residual of -9.6 points.

Across the wider county, ACS estimates for Jackson County put median household income runs about $48,763, about 36% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. In all, Jackson County runs 32 public schools (combined enrollment of about 6,811 students), of which Thomas Elementary School is one.

Carbondale Comm H S is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.3 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 6 other public schools cluster around Thomas Elementary School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Thomas Elementary School at 7th of 7; the average score across the group is 43.7%.

The campus sits in an outlying setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Thomas Elementary School's enrollment has expanded 22% since 2018, when it stood at 328 (now 400). The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 15.3:1 in 2018 to 13.8:1 today.

Inside the community feed, recent activity here tends to focus on sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.