Hawthorne Brook

Located at 64 Brookline Rd, in Townsend, Massachusetts, Hawthorne Brook is a low-enrollment 6-8 campus that teaches 449 students (grades 5 through 8), operated by North Middlesex.

Within North Middlesex, which oversees 7 schools and 2,914 students, Hawthorne Brook is one campus in the system.

Demographically, Hawthorne Brook lists that 83% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school logs 9% Hispanic, 3% Black, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Middlesex County as a whole is about 67% White, so the school skews noticeably more White than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 37 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.1:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely.

In the surrounding community, Middlesex County reports that median household income runs about $130,847, roughly 60% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Hawthorne Brook is one of 386 public schools in Middlesex County (combined enrollment of about 215,896 students).

Nearest neighbor: Squannacook Early Childhood Center, around 0.1 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 5 other public schools cluster around Hawthorne Brook.

Hawthorne Brook operates from an outlying location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 11%: 502 students in 2018 compared to 449 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 92% to 83% across the same window.

On this page, members of the Hawthorne Brook community share and discuss pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.