HILLSIDE ARTS & LETTERS ACADEMY

HILLSIDE ARTS & LETTERS ACADEMY is a small secondary school in JAMAICA, New York, operated by NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #28. The school hosts 414 students in grades 9 through 12. That puts it 38% below the typical public school in New York, which averages around 668 students.

NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #28 comprises 50 schools with combined enrollment of 36,340 students; HILLSIDE ARTS & LETTERS ACADEMY is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, HILLSIDE ARTS & LETTERS ACADEMY lists that 39% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Other groups include 30% Black, 23% Asian, 4% Native American. By comparison, Queens County as a whole is about 28% Hispanic, so the school skews considerably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, The school employs 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 13.5:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 11.0:1 average. Around 76% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

After controlling for student poverty, HILLSIDE ARTS & LETTERS ACADEMY sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 47.1%; this one delivers 53.7%.

Around the school, census data for Queens County shows the typical household earns roughly $86,136 per year, 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. HILLSIDE ARTS & LETTERS ACADEMY is one of 392 public schools in Queens County (combined enrollment of about 268,205 students).

The closest other public school is HIGH SCHOOL FOR COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP, roughly 0.0 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), HILLSIDE ARTS & LETTERS ACADEMY ranks 6th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 59.4%.

HILLSIDE ARTS & LETTERS ACADEMY operates from a city-core location.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at HILLSIDE ARTS & LETTERS ACADEMY has shrank 12%, going from 471 students in 2018 to 414 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 28% to 39% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 18.1:1 in 2018 to 13.5:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, members of the HILLSIDE ARTS & LETTERS ACADEMY community share and discuss fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.