W. Smith Jr. Elementary School

W. Smith Jr. Elementary School is one of the compact elementary schools in Violet, Louisiana, overseen by St. Bernard Parish, with 333 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 453 students per school, that is 26% smaller than typical.

St. Bernard Parish comprises 12 schools with combined enrollment of 7,592 students; W. Smith Jr. Elementary School is among them.

In terms of who attends, W. Smith Jr. Elementary School logs that the largest single group is Black, at 73% of enrollment. Other groups include 13% Hispanic, 8% White, 5% multiracial. That is visibly more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 24%.

On the income-and-resources front, The school lists 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 10.7:1. The state averages around 14.0:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 89% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, St. Bernard Parish runs at roughly 63%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), W. Smith Jr. Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 20.6%, the actual is 22.3%, a residual of +1.8 points.

Around the school, census data for St. Bernard Parish shows the typical household earns roughly $58,651 per year, roughly 18% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 18% of residents live below the federal poverty line. W. Smith Jr. Elementary School is one of 12 public schools in St. Bernard Parish (combined enrollment of about 7,592 students).

The closest other public school is St. Bernard Middle School, roughly 1.7 miles away. 8 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), W. Smith Jr. Elementary School ranks 7th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 46.0%.

W. Smith Jr. Elementary School operates from a rural location.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count showed little movement: 326 students in 2018 compared to 333 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 86% to 73% across the same window. Class-load math has tightened: from 13.6:1 in 2018 to 10.7:1 in 2025.

On the community side, members of the W. Smith Jr. Elementary School community share and discuss enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.