Waterman Elementary

Set in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Waterman Elementary is a moderately sized elementary school, one of the schools within Harrisonburg City Public Schools. It serves 557 students across grades pre-K through 5.

Harrisonburg City Public Schools comprises 10 schools with combined enrollment of 6,652 students; Waterman Elementary is among them.

In terms of who attends, Waterman Elementary lists that 66% of the student body identifies as Hispanic; the rest breaks down as 19% White, 9% Black, 5% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 24% Hispanic, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Hispanic than the area baseline.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 38 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.7:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.8:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Around 87% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

With demographic context factored in, On a poverty-adjusted basis, Waterman Elementary sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 64.4%; actual is 46.8%, a gap of -17.6 points.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Harrisonburg city indicate median household earnings sit near $62,254, 38% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 12%. Waterman Elementary is one of 13 public schools in Harrisonburg city (combined enrollment of about 6,934 students).

The closest other public school is Thomas Harrison Middle, roughly 0.9 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Waterman Elementary. On composite proficiency, Waterman Elementary comes 7th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 55.1%.

The campus sits in a downtown setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Waterman Elementary has ticked up 12%, going from 499 students in 2018 to 557 in 2025. The White share of enrollment edged down from 37% to 19% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio grew from 11.9:1 in 2018 to 14.7:1 today.

On allk12, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.