Ferndale Elementary School

Ferndale Elementary School is a primary school of close-knit scale in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, one of the schools within Milton-Freewater Unified SD 7, works with 240 students in grades 4 through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 25% below the state mean of about 321.

Across the 4 schools in Milton-Freewater Unified SD 7 (1,547 students total), Ferndale Elementary School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Ferndale Elementary School logs that Hispanic students make up the majority at 58%. The remainder consists of 39% White. By comparison, Umatilla County as a whole is about 30% Hispanic, so the school skews visibly more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, The school employs 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 14.3:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 16.5:1 average. Roughly 85% of students at Ferndale Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Ferndale Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 29.8%; this one delivers 23.6%.

In the broader community, Umatilla County reports that median household income runs about $67,728, 18% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. In all, Umatilla County runs 35 public schools (combined enrollment of about 13,143 students), of which Ferndale Elementary School is one.

Nearest neighbor: McLoughlin High School, around 3.2 miles off. Within five miles, there are 7 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Ferndale Elementary School at 6th of 8; the average score across the group is 36.3%.

Geographically, the school is in a countryside area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Ferndale Elementary School has contracted 15%, going from 282 students in 2018 to 240 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment expanded from 54% to 58% over that span. Class-load math has narrowed: from 16.5:1 in 2018 to 14.3:1 in 2025.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.