Southway Elementary School

Southway Elementary School is one of the medium-sized primary schools in Massillon, Ohio, one of the schools within Perry Local, with 474 students on its rolls from grades K through 4.

Across the 12 schools in Perry Local (6,638 students total), Southway Elementary School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Southway Elementary School reports that 81% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school lists 9% multiracial, 5% Hispanic, 4% Black. That composition is broadly in line with Stark County as a whole.

On the resource side, Southway Elementary School lists 29 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 16.3:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 17.9:1 average. An estimated 62% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Stark County (around 36%), the school's rate is somewhat above typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Southway Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 65.5%; this one delivers 71.0%.

Across the wider county, Stark County reports that the typical household earns roughly $67,934 per year, roughly 26% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. In all, Stark County runs 101 public schools (combined enrollment of about 53,798 students), of which Southway Elementary School is one.

Edison Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Southway Elementary School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Southway Elementary School at 5th of 5; the average score across the group is 76.2%.

The school occupies a bedroom-community site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count expanded 34%: 355 students in 2018 compared to 474 in 2025. Class-load math has tightened: from 17.4:1 in 2018 to 16.3:1 in 2025.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.