Thomas P. Hughes School

Thomas P. Hughes School is one of the cozy elementary schools in BERKELEY HTS, New Jersey, part of Berkeley Heights School District, with 250 students on its rolls from grades 3 through 5. By comparison, New Jersey's public schools average about 405 students each, so Thomas P. Hughes School sits 38% leaner than that benchmark.

Berkeley Heights School District comprises 6 schools with combined enrollment of 2,340 students; Thomas P. Hughes School is among them.

Demographically, Thomas P. Hughes School logs that White students make up the majority at 59%. The remainder is composed of 15% Asian, 14% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 3% Black. The wider county runs roughly 39% White, putting the school's mix considerably more White than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 23 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 10.7:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 11.4:1, putting Thomas P. Hughes School tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 3% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Union County runs at roughly 52%, so the school's eligibility rate is below the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Thomas P. Hughes School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 64.6%, the actual is 71.4%, a residual of +6.8 points.

In the broader community, census data for Union County shows median household income runs about $103,202, about 39% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. Across Union County's 180 public schools (combined enrollment of about 99,046 students), Thomas P. Hughes School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Columbia Middle School, around 0.6 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Thomas P. Hughes School at 3rd of 7; the average score across the group is 69.2%.

The campus sits in a bedroom-community setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Thomas P. Hughes School's enrollment has contracted 7% since 2018, when it stood at 270 (now 250). White enrollment moved from 68% to 59% across the same window. Class-load math has tightened: from 12.7:1 in 2018 to 10.7:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.