West Jones Elementary School

West Jones Elementary School is a large elementary school in Laurel, Mississippi, part of Jones County School District. The school instructs 1,114 students in grades pre-K through 6. Enrollment runs roughly 150% above the state mean of about 446.

Within Jones County School District, which oversees 9 schools and 8,693 students, West Jones Elementary School is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, West Jones Elementary School shows that the most-represented group is White (53%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder comes out to 25% Hispanic, 17% Black, 5% multiracial. By comparison, Jones County as a whole is about 64% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 78 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.3:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 15.9:1, putting West Jones Elementary School tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 70% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, West Jones Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 59.3%, the actual is 58.0%, a residual of -1.3 points.

In the area at large, Jones County reports that median household income runs about $52,216, roughly 21% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 12% of residents live below the federal poverty line. West Jones Elementary School is one of 20 public schools in Jones County (combined enrollment of about 11,313 students).

The closest other public school is West Jones High School, roughly 2.8 miles away. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 4 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), West Jones Elementary School ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 58.2%.

The campus sits in a low-density setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged up 7%: 1,045 students in 2018 compared to 1,114 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 59% to 53% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 17.7:1 in 2018 to 14.3:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.