Cleveland Elementary

Cleveland Elementary is an elementary campus of large scale in Clayton, North Carolina, overseen by Johnston County Public Schools, educateing 851 students in grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 82% larger than the typical public school in North Carolina, which averages around 467 students.

Across the 48 schools in Johnston County Public Schools (37,320 students total), Cleveland Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

In terms of who attends, Cleveland Elementary records that the largest single group is White at 50%, but no single group is in the majority; the rest looks like 21% Hispanic, 19% Black, 8% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 64% White, putting the school's mix visibly less White than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 45 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 19.0:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 14.9:1 average. About 99% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Cleveland Elementary ranks in the top 10% of North Carolina public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 48.7%; Cleveland Elementary posts 76.6%, +27.9 points above that line.

Around the school, the surrounding county (Johnston County) reports that median household income runs about $83,384, 29% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, Johnston County runs 52 public schools (combined enrollment of about 41,004 students), of which Cleveland Elementary is one.

Cleveland Middle is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. 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), Cleveland Elementary ranks 1st on composite proficiency, above the local average of 58.3%.

Geographically, the school is in a commuter-belt area.

Five-year trend. Cleveland Elementary's enrollment has grew 4% since 2018, when it stood at 820 (now 851). Over the same period, the White share fell from 64% to 50%. Class-load math has widened: from 17.3:1 in 2018 to 19.0:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.