Meadowlawn Elementary

Located at 4939 BURGIS AVE SE, in GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan, Meadowlawn Elementary is a middle-of-the-pack elementary-level community that instructs 339 students (grades pre-K through 5), part of Kentwood Public Schools.

Meadowlawn Elementary is one of 16 schools operated by Kentwood Public Schools, a district that hosts 9,536 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Meadowlawn Elementary reports that 32% of students identify as Black, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school logs 20% Hispanic, 19% Asian, 17% White, 10% multiracial. By comparison, Kent County as a whole is about 10% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Meadowlawn Elementary has 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 15.9:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 90% of students at Meadowlawn Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is above Kent County's rate of about 47%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Meadowlawn Elementary is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 26.3%; this one delivers 46.9%, a residual of +20.6 points.

Around the school, Kent County reports that median household income runs about $82,631, roughly 41% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. Across Kent County's 239 public schools (combined enrollment of about 97,253 students), Meadowlawn Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Valleywood Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Meadowlawn Elementary comes 1st of 5 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 32.8%.

The campus sits in a downtown setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 7%: 366 students in 2018 compared to 339 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share fell from 24% to 17%. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 23.3:1 in 2018 to 15.9:1 today.

On allk12, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.