J. I. Watson Elementary School

As a moderately sized elementary-level community in Iowa, Louisiana, J. I. Watson Elementary School caters to 531 students from grades pre-K through 5, run under Calcasieu Parish.

J. I. Watson Elementary School is one of 56 schools operated by Calcasieu Parish, a district that hosts 27,851 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, J. I. Watson Elementary School logs that the most-represented group is White (46%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 44% Black, 5% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 66% White, putting the school's mix considerably less White than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 42 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.7:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 14.0:1 average. An estimated 74% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is noticeably above Calcasieu Parish's rate of about 59%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, J. I. Watson Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 31.1% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 27.7%.

Around the school, ACS estimates for Calcasieu Parish put median household earnings sit near $67,564, about 25% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 13%. Across Calcasieu Parish's 61 public schools (combined enrollment of about 30,278 students), J. I. Watson Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Iowa High School, roughly 0.7 miles away. Within ten miles, there are 5 other public schools, a sparser pattern than typical urban areas. On composite proficiency, J. I. Watson Elementary School comes 5th of 6 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 41.8%.

Geographically, the school is in a rural area.

Five-year trend. J. I. Watson Elementary School's enrollment has contracted 5% since 2018, when it stood at 557 (now 531). Over the same period, the Black share ticked up from 37% to 44%. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 16.6:1 in 2018 to 12.7:1 today.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.