Central Elementary School

Central Elementary School is a primary school of compact scale in Hoquiam, Washington, overseen by Hoquiam School District, teacheing 232 students in grades 2 through 5. By comparison, Washington's public schools average about 380 students each, so Central Elementary School sits 39% leaner than that benchmark.

Hoquiam School District comprises 6 schools with combined enrollment of 1,566 students; Central Elementary School is among them.

Looking at the student body, Central Elementary School records that the most-represented group is White (55%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 27% Hispanic, 9% multiracial, 6% Native American, 2% Black. The wider county runs roughly 79% White, putting the school's mix visibly less White than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Central Elementary School logs 13 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 17.3:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 78% of students at Central Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Grays Harbor County (around 65%), the school's rate is meaningfully above typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Central Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 28.1%, the actual is 25.3%, a residual of -2.9 points.

In the broader community, census data for Grays Harbor County shows the typical household earns roughly $64,414 per year, roughly 18% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. Central Elementary School is one of 46 public schools in Grays Harbor County (combined enrollment of about 10,564 students).

The closest other public school is Emerson Elementary, roughly 0.7 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 6 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Central Elementary School ranks 4th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 26.0%.

The school occupies a town-center site.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 6%: 246 students in 2018 compared to 232 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 63% to 55% across the same window.

On allk12, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.