Whitaker Elementary

Whitaker Elementary is a middle-of-the-pack elementary-level community in Winston Salem, North Carolina, part of Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools. The school educates 490 students in grades pre-K through 5.

Whitaker Elementary is one of 79 schools operated by Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools, a district that hosts 51,745 students overall.

On the student-mix side, Whitaker Elementary lists that the largest single group is White, at 71% of enrollment. Other groups include 16% Black, 8% Hispanic, 5% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 56% White, putting the school's mix visibly more White than the area baseline.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 15.2:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 14.9:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Roughly 26% of students at Whitaker Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Forsyth County runs at roughly 88%, so the school's eligibility rate is below the surrounding baseline.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Whitaker Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 71.1%; this one delivers 82.9%.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Forsyth County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $67,165 per year, roughly 39% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. Across Forsyth County's 88 public schools (combined enrollment of about 55,902 students), Whitaker Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Childrens Center, around 0.9 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Whitaker Elementary ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 51.1%.

The campus sits in a downtown setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 14%: 572 students in 2018 compared to 490 in 2025. The White share of enrollment fell from 77% to 71% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 16.3:1 in 2018 to 15.2:1 today.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.