Hattie A. Watts Elementary School

Hattie A. Watts Elementary School is one of the mid-tier elementary campuss in Patterson, Louisiana, overseen by St. Mary Parish, with 601 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 4. Compared to the state average of about 453 students per school, that is 33% bigger than typical.

Across the 21 schools in St. Mary Parish (7,153 students total), Hattie A. Watts Elementary School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Demographically, Hattie A. Watts Elementary School records that the most-represented group is Black (40%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Beyond that, the school shows 36% White, 12% multiracial, 10% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 29% Black, putting the school's mix considerably more Black than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.9:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 14.0:1, putting Hattie A. Watts Elementary School higher than the state norm the norm. An estimated 80% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Hattie A. Watts Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 26.7%, the actual is 33.3%, a residual of +6.6 points.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (St. Mary Parish) shows that median household income runs about $52,576, roughly 14% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 18% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Hattie A. Watts Elementary School is one of 23 public schools in St. Mary Parish (combined enrollment of about 7,765 students).

The closest other public school is Patterson Junior High School, roughly 0.2 miles away. 5 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Hattie A. Watts Elementary School ranks 5th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 37.1%.

The campus sits in a town-based setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 9%: 660 students in 2018 compared to 601 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share shrank from 41% to 36%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 16.3:1 in 2018 to 14.9:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Hattie A. Watts Elementary School community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.