Hillside Elementary School

Hillside Elementary School operates as a well-populated elementary school in MONTCLAIR, New Jersey, one of the schools within Montclair Public School District. Current enrollment sits at 684 students spanning grades 3 through 5. That puts it 69% larger than the typical public school in New Jersey, which averages around 405 students.

Montclair Public School District comprises 11 schools with combined enrollment of 6,193 students; Hillside Elementary School is among them.

Looking at the student body, Hillside Elementary School logs that 48% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder looks like 20% Black, 16% Hispanic, 13% multiracial, 3% Asian. By comparison, Essex County as a whole is about 30% White, so the school skews noticeably more White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Hillside Elementary School has 47 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.7:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 11.4:1 average. About 13% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Essex County (around 54%), the school's rate is south of typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Hillside Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 58.8%; this one delivers 65.9%.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for Essex County put median household income runs about $80,789, about 39% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. In all, Essex County runs 249 public schools (combined enrollment of about 145,473 students), of which Hillside Elementary School is one.

Charles H. Bullock School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Hillside Elementary School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Hillside Elementary School at 1st of 7; the average score across the group is 58.6%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting.

Five-year trend. Hillside Elementary School's enrollment has climbed 15% since 2018, when it stood at 593 (now 684). The Black share of enrollment decreased from 33% to 20% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 11.8:1 in 2018 to 14.7:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.