Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5

Located at 650 Bayway Avenue, in ELIZABETH, New Jersey, Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5 is a big elementary campus that enrolls 767 students (grades pre-K through 8), one of the schools within Elizabeth Public Schools. That puts it 89% bigger than the typical public school in New Jersey, which averages around 405 students.

Elizabeth Public Schools runs 37 schools in total, collectively educating 27,580 students. Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5 is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5 logs that 71% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. Beyond that, the school shows 23% Black, 4% White. By comparison, Union County as a whole is about 35% Hispanic, so the school skews visibly more Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 68 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.3:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 84% of students at Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5 qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is higher than Union County's rate of about 52%.

After controlling for student poverty, Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5 sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 20.2%; this one delivers 19.7%.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Union County indicate median household earnings sit near $103,202, roughly 39% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Union County's 180 public schools (combined enrollment of about 99,046 students), Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5 is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy, around 0.3 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5 comes 7th of 8 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 31.6%.

Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5 operates from a commuter-belt location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 16%: 913 students in 2018 compared to 767 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 64% to 71% across the same window.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.