Towamensing El Sch

Towamensing El Sch is an elementary-level community of compact scale in Lehighton, Pennsylvania, overseen by Palmerton Area SD, instructing 328 students in grades K through 6. By comparison, Pennsylvania's public schools average about 443 students each, so Towamensing El Sch sits 26% smaller than that benchmark.

Towamensing El Sch is one of 5 schools operated by Palmerton Area SD, a district that hosts 1,616 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Towamensing El Sch logs that the student body is overwhelmingly White (91%). The remainder reads as 7% Hispanic. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 10.7:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.1:1 average. Around 40% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably below Carbon County's rate of about 65%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Towamensing El Sch tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 60.5% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 67.3%.

Around the school, Carbon County reports that median household income runs about $67,554, about 19% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, Carbon County runs 18 public schools (combined enrollment of about 8,111 students), of which Towamensing El Sch is one.

Nearest neighbor: Palmerton Area HS, around 4.6 miles off. Within five miles, there are 2 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Towamensing El Sch at 2nd of 6; the average score across the group is 52.8%.

The campus sits in a rural setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Towamensing El Sch's enrollment has stayed largely flat since 2018, when it stood at 336 (now 328). Over the same period, the White share shrank from 95% to 91%. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 13.9:1 in 2018 to 10.7:1 today.

On the community side, members of the Towamensing El Sch community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.