Samsel Upper Elementary School

As a heavily attended primary school in PARLIN, New Jersey, Samsel Upper Elementary School works with 870 students from grades 4 through 5, operated by Sayreville School District. By comparison, New Jersey's public schools average about 405 students each, so Samsel Upper Elementary School sits 115% larger than that benchmark.

Sayreville School District comprises 9 schools with combined enrollment of 6,215 students; Samsel Upper Elementary School is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Samsel Upper Elementary School shows that the most-represented group is White (39%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Beyond that, the school lists 20% Hispanic, 17% Black, 16% Asian, 6% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Samsel Upper Elementary School has 81 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 10.7:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 11.4:1 average. About 47% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

After controlling for student poverty, Samsel Upper Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 40.6%; this one delivers 44.7%.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Middlesex County indicate the typical household earns roughly $111,549 per year, roughly 46% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Samsel Upper Elementary School is one of 214 public schools in Middlesex County (combined enrollment of about 129,255 students).

The closest other public school is Madison Park Elementary School, roughly 0.6 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Samsel Upper Elementary School. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Samsel Upper Elementary School ranks 5th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 45.8%.

Geographically, the school is in a commuter-belt area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 22%: 1,114 students in 2018 compared to 870 in 2025. Asian enrollment moved from 21% to 16% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 12.8:1 in 2018 to 10.7:1 today.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.