Hawthorne Elementary School

As a mid-sized K-5 school in Columbus, Ohio, Hawthorne Elementary School serves 538 students from grades K through 5, one of the schools within Westerville City. Enrollment runs roughly 33% above the state mean of about 404.

Hawthorne Elementary School is one of 24 schools operated by Westerville City, a district that teaches 14,589 students overall.

On the student-mix side, Hawthorne Elementary School reports that 43% of students identify as Black, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups; the rest comes out to 26% White, 13% multiracial, 11% Hispanic, 7% Asian. That is meaningfully more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 23%.

On the resource side, Hawthorne Elementary School reports 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 18.9:1. The state averages around 17.9:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. About 71% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Franklin County runs at roughly 41%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Hawthorne Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 61.9% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 62.4%.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Franklin County indicate median household earnings sit near $75,176, 42% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Franklin County's 402 public schools (combined enrollment of about 195,359 students), Hawthorne Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Minerva Park Middle School, around 0.1 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 4 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Hawthorne Elementary School ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 60.9%.

The school occupies a residential site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Hawthorne Elementary School has decreased 19%, going from 665 students in 2018 to 538 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 37% to 26% across the same window. Class-load math has pulled in: from 22.6:1 in 2018 to 18.9:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.