James A. Long Elementary School, Palatka FL

Original Research by School Decision on James A. Long Elementary School

James A. Long Elementary sits on Old Jacksonville Road in Palatka, Florida, serving kindergarten through sixth grade as a regular public school within the Putnam County School District. Any family considering it should know upfront: the school is scheduled to close. Publicly reported accounts confirm that James A. Long will not survive the district's current rebuilding program in its present form. Under the plan, kindergarten through second grade students from James A. Long and a neighboring school will consolidate at the James A. Long campus for the 2026-27 school year, while a new Palatka Primary and a new Palatka Intermediate are constructed nearby. By 2027-28, the James A. Long building itself is expected to close, with students moving to the new campuses. That transition is the single most consequential fact for any parent evaluating this school today.

The backdrop to that closure is a voter-approved bond program passed in late 2022, designed to address what publicly reported sources describe as some of the oldest school buildings in Florida. The district's revitalization plan has already closed schools in recent years and is now reshaping the elementary landscape across Palatka. A second bond issuance followed in 2025, and property taxes have risen to service that debt, a consideration for families buying into the area. Residents have publicly raised concerns about the tax burden, and the millage rate has increased from the prior year.

On academic performance, the school's state FAST assessment results from 2024-25 are a mixed picture. In math, proficiency rates across grades three through six fall in a range where fewer than half of students in most tested grades are meeting the standard, with third grade showing the lowest math proficiency and fifth grade the highest, though still below the majority threshold. ELA results follow a similar pattern in the lower grades, with third through fifth grade proficiency rates in roughly the same range as math. The sixth-grade ELA result is the standout: it sits clearly above the rest of the school's tested results, with a majority of students reaching proficiency there. Science in fifth grade is also comparatively strong, with nearly two-thirds of students proficient on the statewide science assessment. Multi-year trend data was not available for comparison, so it is not possible to say from this data whether results are improving, holding, or declining. Parents who want to understand trajectory should ask the district directly. A meaningful share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic realities of Palatka more broadly. Data on students with IEPs and English learners was not reported in what was provided.

Because Putnam County has only one district, a peer comparison across county districts is not meaningful here, and the data does not support one.

Palatka itself is a small river city on the St. Johns River, the county seat, with a compact historic downtown. Major employers include a large paper manufacturing operation, a regional hospital, the St. Johns River Water Management District headquarters, and St. Johns River State College. The local housing market is well below Florida state norms, making the area relatively accessible for buyers, though home values have risen in recent years. Rents have also edged upward. The riverfront park anchors public life, and the library system serves the county from a main branch in Palatka and several rural branches.

For a family choosing where to enroll a child in Palatka's elementary grades right now, the defining reality is that the school's current configuration has a defined end date. What replaces it are new buildings with a restructured grade arrangement. A parent may want to contact the Putnam County School District to understand exactly which campus their child would attend in 2026-27, what the timeline for the new construction looks like, and how the transition will be managed, since those answers will shape the actual experience more than the current school's profile.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 338%

School 38% · District 39% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median

Grade 445%

School 45% · District 44% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 16 pts below state median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 45% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 60% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 41% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 43% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 43% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 662%

School 62% · District 57% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Science

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 45% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median

This schoolPUTNAM, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income40%Higher-income58%18 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income43%Higher-income42%1 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income39%Higher-income61%23 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income60%Higher-income68%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income32%Higher-income49%17 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income45%Higher-income46%1 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income43%Higher-income55%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income40%Higher-income56%16 pp gap