PS 97 FOREST PARK

PS 97 FOREST PARK is one of the moderately sized elementary-level communitys in WOODHAVEN, New York, overseen by NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #27, with 575 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 30% above the typical public school in New York, which averages around 443 students.

NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #27 comprises 63 schools with combined enrollment of 39,209 students; PS 97 FOREST PARK is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, PS 97 FOREST PARK reports that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 76% of enrollment. Other groups include 13% Asian, 5% White, 3% Black. By comparison, Queens County as a whole is about 28% Hispanic, so the school skews visibly more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the resource side, PS 97 FOREST PARK records 48 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.0:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 12.8:1, putting PS 97 FOREST PARK tighter than the state norm the norm. About 88% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is north of Queens County's rate of about 77%.

With demographic context factored in, PS 97 FOREST PARK performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 42.6%, the actual is 47.3%, a residual of +4.8 points.

In the surrounding community, census data for Queens County shows median household earnings sit near $86,136, 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 97 FOREST PARK is one.

The closest other public school is PS 60 WOODHAVEN, roughly 0.4 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around PS 97 FOREST PARK. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), PS 97 FOREST PARK ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 41.6%.

The school occupies an urban site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at PS 97 FOREST PARK has ticked down 20%, going from 721 students in 2018 to 575 in 2025. Over the same period, the Asian share decreased from 18% to 13%. Class-load math has tightened: from 14.4:1 in 2018 to 12.0:1 in 2025.

On this page, the feed for PS 97 FOREST PARK typically covers pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.