Wasena Elementary

Set in Roanoke, Virginia, Wasena Elementary is a tight-knit elementary-level community, operated by Roanoke City Public Schools. It hosts 247 students across grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 51% leaner than the state mean of about 499.

Wasena Elementary is one of 24 schools operated by Roanoke City Public Schools, a district that caters to 13,811 students overall.

On demographics, Wasena Elementary logs that the largest single group is White at 53%, but no single group is in the majority; the rest breaks down as 22% Black, 14% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 3% Asian. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the income-and-resources front, Wasena Elementary reports 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 13.3:1. The state averages about 13.8:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Around 100% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Wasena Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 60.9%, the actual is 72.5%, a residual of +11.6 points.

In the area at large, census data for Roanoke city shows the typical household earns roughly $55,378 per year, 30% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 14%. In all, Roanoke city runs 30 public schools (combined enrollment of about 14,392 students), of which Wasena Elementary is one.

Nearest neighbor: James Madison Middle, around 0.7 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Wasena Elementary. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Wasena Elementary ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 61.6%.

Wasena Elementary operates from a metropolitan location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Wasena Elementary has increased 10%, going from 224 students in 2018 to 247 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment edged down from 26% to 22% over that span. Class-load math has pulled in: from 16.0:1 in 2018 to 13.3:1 in 2025.

On this page, the feed for Wasena Elementary typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.