PARLEY COBURN SCHOOL

Located at 216 MT ZOAR ST, in ELMIRA, New York, PARLEY COBURN SCHOOL is a mid-sized primary school that works with 391 students (grades 3 through 6), run under ELMIRA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT.

Across the 11 schools in ELMIRA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT (5,322 students total), PARLEY COBURN SCHOOL accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, PARLEY COBURN SCHOOL lists that White students make up the majority at 62%. The remainder looks like 19% multiracial, 12% Black, 5% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 85% White, putting the school's mix noticeably less White than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, On paper, PARLEY COBURN SCHOOL has 29 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.4:1. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 85% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is higher than Chemung County's rate of about 56%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), PARLEY COBURN SCHOOL is in the bottom 10% of New York public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 43.6%; PARLEY COBURN SCHOOL posts 19.5%, -24.1 points below that line.

Across the wider county, ACS estimates for Chemung County put median household income runs about $63,716, 27% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 12%. Across Chemung County's 24 public schools (combined enrollment of about 10,788 students), PARLEY COBURN SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.

RIVERSIDE ELEMENTARY is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around PARLEY COBURN SCHOOL. On composite proficiency, PARLEY COBURN SCHOOL comes 6th of 7 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 36.9%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at PARLEY COBURN SCHOOL has contracted 22%, going from 502 students in 2018 to 391 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share shrank from 68% to 62%.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.