The District

The Painesville City Local Schools, a large-town suburban district, enrolls about 3,000 students in a high school (9-12), middle school (6-8), three elementary schools (K-5), and one preschool. Total district enrollment has stayed almost the same for five years. About one quarter of the district’s students (around 750) are enrolled at the high school, and a little less than one quarter of Painesville’s students attend the middle school. All three elementary schools in the district have similar enrollments of around 470 students. The district’s preschool enrolls about 120 students; however, because it operates with a different mission and structure from the other district schools, the preschool’s demographics and data will not be included in further discussion of the Painesville City Local Schools’ improvement process.

The Painesville school district is one of the main employers in the city. Teaching staff in the district is 88% White, 8% Black, 2% Hispanic and 1% Multiracial. The district is led administratively by a superintendent and assistant superintendent, and each of the six schools has a principal.

The Painesville district is geographically small and is surrounded by a much larger, more affluent district, Riverside Local Schools. The demography of Riverside, as well as that of other nearby school districts, differs markedly from that of Painesville. Riverside’s population is over 90% White, and median income is nearly twice as high.