RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Located at 46 RIVER AVE, in PATCHOGUE, New York, RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a compact elementary-level community that enrolls 314 students (grades pre-K through 5), one of the schools within PATCHOGUE-MEDFORD UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT. By comparison, New York's public schools average about 443 students each, so RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL sits 29% smaller than that benchmark.

Within PATCHOGUE-MEDFORD UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT, which oversees 11 schools and 7,605 students, RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one campus in the system.

Demographically, RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL lists that the most-represented group is Hispanic (41%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder looks like 40% White, 11% Black, 4% multiracial, 3% Asian. By comparison, Suffolk County as a whole is about 23% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 9.1:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 12.8:1, putting RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL tighter than the state norm the norm. About 40% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

After controlling for student poverty, RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is in the bottom 10% of New York public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 60.1%; RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL posts 39.8%, -20.3 points below that line.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Suffolk County indicate the typical household earns roughly $130,686 per year, roughly 40% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Suffolk County's 343 public schools (combined enrollment of about 222,439 students), RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.

SOUTH OCEAN MIDDLE SCHOOL is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ranks 6th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 48.9%.

The campus sits in a residential setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 16%: 375 students in 2018 compared to 314 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment declined from 47% to 41% over that span. Class-load math has narrowed: from 12.9:1 in 2018 to 9.1:1 in 2025.

On this page, the feed for RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL typically covers pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.