Park Ridge Elementary

Park Ridge Elementary is an elementary campus of roomy scale in Stafford, Virginia, operated by Stafford County Public Schools, caters to 908 students in grades K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 499 students per school, that is 82% above typical.

Across the 32 schools in Stafford County Public Schools (31,812 students total), Park Ridge Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Park Ridge Elementary lists that the most-represented group is White (33%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 31% Black, 19% Hispanic, 11% multiracial, 7% Asian. By comparison, Stafford County as a whole is about 54% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 56 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.2:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.8:1 average. About 34% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Stafford County (around 45%), the school's rate is noticeably below typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Park Ridge Elementary is in the bottom 10% of Virginia public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 78.9%; Park Ridge Elementary posts 63.5%, -15.4 points below that line.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Stafford County) shows that the typical household earns roughly $137,807 per year, about 44% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 3%. In all, Stafford County runs 41 public schools (combined enrollment of about 31,812 students), of which Park Ridge Elementary is one.

North Stafford High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Park Ridge Elementary comes 6th of 8 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 71.5%.

Geographically, the school is in a commuter-belt area.

Looking at the recent track record. Park Ridge Elementary's enrollment has rose 26% since 2018, when it stood at 720 (now 908). Over the same period, the Black share edged up from 23% to 31%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 18.5:1 in 2018 to 16.2:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.