Parchment Northwood Elem School

Located at 600 EDISON ST, in KALAMAZOO, Michigan, Parchment Northwood Elem School is a cozy primary school that hosts 178 students (grades pre-K through 3), part of Parchment School District. By comparison, Michigan's public schools average about 369 students each, so Parchment Northwood Elem School sits 52% below that benchmark.

Across the 6 schools in Parchment School District (1,558 students total), Parchment Northwood Elem School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Parchment Northwood Elem School shows that the largest single group is White, at 63% of enrollment. The remainder reads as 15% Black, 13% multiracial, 8% Hispanic. By comparison, Kalamazoo County as a whole is about 76% White, so the school skews visibly less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, The school currently runs with 14 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 12.7:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 15.8:1, putting Parchment Northwood Elem School tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 66% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Kalamazoo County runs at roughly 45%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Kalamazoo County shows median household earnings sit near $72,532, 41% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. In all, Kalamazoo County runs 93 public schools (combined enrollment of about 34,151 students), of which Parchment Northwood Elem School is one.

The closest other public school is Parchment Middle School, roughly 1.2 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The school occupies an outer-ring site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Parchment Northwood Elem School has ticked down 11%, going from 199 students in 2018 to 178 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share edged down from 71% to 63%. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 14.7:1 in 2018 to 12.7:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.