Peter Cooper School

Peter Cooper School is an elementary campus of cozy scale in RINGWOOD, New Jersey, one of the schools within Ringwood School District, educateing 235 students in grades K through 3. That puts it 42% below the typical public school in New Jersey, which averages around 405 students.

Ringwood School District runs 4 schools in total, collectively educating 957 students. Peter Cooper School is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Peter Cooper School logs that the largest single group is White, at 71% of enrollment. Other groups include 21% Hispanic, 3% Black, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Passaic County as a whole is about 41% White, so the school skews visibly more White than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 10.8:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 11.4:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Roughly 7% of students at Peter Cooper School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Passaic County runs at roughly 61%, so the school's eligibility rate is lower than the surrounding baseline.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Peter Cooper School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 62.4% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 65.7%.

Across the wider county, Passaic County reports that the typical household earns roughly $87,522 per year, roughly 31% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Passaic County's 155 public schools (combined enrollment of about 83,237 students), Peter Cooper School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Lakeland Regional High School, roughly 1.0 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Peter Cooper School. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Peter Cooper School ranks 1st on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 51.9%.

The campus sits in an outer-ring setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 12%: 267 students in 2018 compared to 235 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share ticked down from 86% to 71%. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 12.7:1 in 2018 to 10.8:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, the feed for Peter Cooper School typically covers school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.