Colin Powell Elementary School

Colin Powell Elementary School is an elementary-level community of sprawling scale in Union City, New Jersey, operated by Union City School District, serveing 692 students in grades K through 5. By comparison, New Jersey's public schools average about 405 students each, so Colin Powell Elementary School sits 71% above that benchmark.

Colin Powell Elementary School is one of 14 schools operated by Union City School District, a district that works with 11,519 students overall.

On the student-mix side, Colin Powell Elementary School reports that 95% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority; the rest reads as 2% Asian. By comparison, Hudson County as a whole is about 41% Hispanic, so the school skews considerably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, Colin Powell Elementary School shows 52 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 13.3:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 11.4:1, putting Colin Powell Elementary School higher than the state norm the norm. Roughly 74% of students at Colin Powell Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Colin Powell Elementary School 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 25.9%; this one delivers 48.1%, a residual of +22.2 points.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Hudson County indicate median household income runs about $91,795, 49% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. Across Hudson County's 130 public schools (combined enrollment of about 86,216 students), Colin Powell Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Emerson Middle School, around 0.1 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Colin Powell Elementary School comes 5th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 52.7%.

The school occupies an outer-ring site.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 18%: 842 students in 2018 compared to 692 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 15.3:1 in 2018 to 13.3:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Colin Powell Elementary School community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.