PS 251

Located at 144-51 ARTHUR ST, in SPRINGFIELD GARDENS, New York, PS 251 is a low-enrollment elementary school that serves 217 students (grades pre-K through 5), one of the schools within NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #29. By comparison, New York's public schools average about 443 students each, so PS 251 sits 51% smaller than that benchmark.

NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #29 comprises 46 schools with combined enrollment of 21,817 students; PS 251 is among them.

Demographically, PS 251 logs that 62% of the student body identifies as Black; the rest looks like 22% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 5% multiracial, 3% Native American. That is meaningfully more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 17%.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, PS 251 has 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 9.9:1. The state averages around 12.8:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 76% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, PS 251 sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 47.0%; this one delivers 63.0%.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Queens County indicate the typical household earns roughly $86,136 per year, 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. In all, Queens County runs 392 public schools (combined enrollment of about 268,205 students), of which PS 251 is one.

Nearest neighbor: COMMUNITY VOICES MIDDLE SCHOOL, around 0.0 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around PS 251. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), PS 251 ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 49.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a downtown area.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at PS 251 has fell 36%, going from 339 students in 2018 to 217 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share declined from 84% to 62%. Class-load math has pulled in: from 12.6:1 in 2018 to 9.9:1 in 2025.

On allk12, posts here usually surface around pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.