Southwestern Elementary

Southwestern Elementary is one of the medium-sized K-5 schools in Suffolk, Virginia, one of the schools within Suffolk City Public Schools, with 579 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 5.

Southwestern Elementary is one of 19 schools operated by Suffolk City Public Schools, a district that teaches 14,565 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Southwestern Elementary reports that White students make up the majority at 56%; the rest reads as 26% Black, 9% Hispanic, 7% multiracial. That is considerably more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 47%.

On the resource side, Southwestern Elementary reports 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 18.7:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.8:1 average. Around 69% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Southwestern Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 69.2%; this one delivers 70.8%.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Suffolk city) logs that median household income runs about $92,666, about 33% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. Across Suffolk city's 22 public schools (combined enrollment of about 14,565 students), Southwestern Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Lakeland High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 5.0 miles from this campus. Within ten miles, there are 8 other public schools, a sparser pattern than typical urban areas. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Southwestern Elementary at 5th of 9; the average score across the group is 70.5%.

The school occupies a low-density site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Southwestern Elementary's enrollment has contracted 9% since 2018, when it stood at 639 (now 579). The White share of enrollment ticked down from 62% to 56% over that span.

Within the allk12 community for this school, 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.