N.B. Cook Elementary School of the Arts, 1310 N. 12th Ave.: an arts magnet, K-5, 530 students (2024-25), an A in Florida's 2026 grades. 850-595-6826.
Last checked Oct. 11, 2026. Sources: Escambia County Public Schools and its controlled open enrollment page, the school’s website, the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades and the federal NCES school directory.
N.B. Cook Elementary School of the Arts is the Escambia County Public Schools arts magnet school on North 12th Avenue, inside the Pensacola city limits. It has no attendance zone: families anywhere in the county apply, and the district fills seats by random selection. The school opened as a fine arts magnet on Aug. 19, 1991, its About N.B. Cook page says.
Who to call
- Front office: 850-595-6826, 1310 N. 12th Ave., Pensacola, FL 32503
- School website: cookes.escambiaschools.org
- Applying: Enrollment Services, 850-469-5580; controlled open enrollment page
- Buses: Transportation dispatch, 850-469-5490 or 850-469-5678, staffed every school day (transportation contacts)
| Address | 1310 N. 12th Ave., Pensacola, FL 32503 |
| Phone | 850-595-6826 |
| Grades | Kindergarten to 5 |
| Principal | Larry Knight |
| 2026 state grade | A (73% of points) |
| Admission | Application and random selection, no zone |
Principal. Larry Knight is the principal, according to the school’s administration page. Kristin Arnold is assistant principal.
Enrollment and teachers
- Federal count: 530 students in the 2024-25 school year, with 34 full-time-equivalent classroom teachers, according to the NCES directory. That is about 16 students per teacher.
- State figure: the school’s state report card carries current enrollment by grade and student group; it is an interactive dashboard that could not be read for this page.
State report card
Florida gave Cook an A in its 2026 school grades, its third straight A. The school earned 73% of the points possible, according to the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades file. The file lists 44.8% of its students as economically disadvantaged.
| 2026 school grade measure | Result |
|---|---|
| School grade | A (73% of points) |
| Third grade English language arts achievement | 84% |
| English language arts achievement | 78% |
| English language arts learning gains | 65% |
| Math achievement | 83% |
| Math learning gains | 77% |
| Science achievement | 84% |
Florida grades schools A to F on the share of possible points earned across these measures. Achievement is the share of tested students on grade level; learning gains is the share who improved from the year before. For an elementary school, A is 62% of points or more, B is 54% to 61%, C is 41% to 53% and D is 32% to 40%, the state’s file says.
Admission instead of a zone
No address is zoned for Cook; none of the 347 Pensacola blocks we ran through the district’s Find Your School lookup came back with it. To get in:
- Apply in the window. The school’s home page says the application window is the only time to apply and lists it as Jan. 26 to March 6, through the district’s school choice application. Cook does not accept students midyear.
- Eligibility. Elementary applicants must be entering kindergarten through fifth grade and be Florida residents; kindergartners must be 5 by Sept. 1, according to the district’s controlled open enrollment page.
- Selection. When eligible applicants outnumber seats, the district draws at random among those who listed the school first, and it says Cook selections have historically been made that way. Families list three choices in order.
Students not placed at Cook attend their zoned school. Inside Pensacola, the zoned elementary schools are Global Learning Academy, O.J. Semmes, Cordova Park, Scenic Heights, A.K. Suter and Reinhardt Holm, with a few blocks on the western edge zoned for schools outside the city.
Calendar and bell times
From the district’s 2026-27 academic calendar (PDF), approved by the School Board on Feb. 18, 2025:
- Tuesday, Oct. 13: second nine weeks begins
- Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, no school
- Nov. 23-27: fall break, including Thanksgiving
- Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: Christmas break; the third nine weeks begins Tuesday, Jan. 5
- March 22-26, 2027: spring break
Bell times. The school’s website does not post its daily schedule; call the front office at 850-595-6826.
The arts program
The school describes a creative and performing arts program that “integrates the creative and technological abilities of children into the academic curriculum,” using the singing, moving, drawing and pretending children enjoy to enhance academics. Enrollment grew from about 200 students before the magnet opened to about 600, the school’s history says. The site also describes an active PTA, a School Advisory Council formed in August 1992 and business partners going back to 1986.
More on Pensacola schools
- The district’s elementary school directory, with the principal and phone for every elementary school
- Every public school in Pensacola, with zones and report cards
- Our Pensacola schools guide for the full calendar, enrollment steps and School Board meetings
Frequently asked questions
How do you get into N.B. Cook Elementary?
Cook is a magnet school with no attendance zone. Families apply during the district’s application window, and the district picks students at random from eligible applicants. The school’s page lists a window of Jan. 26 to March 6 and says it does not take students midyear.
What is N.B. Cook Elementary’s Florida school grade?
Cook earned an A in Florida’s 2026 school grades, with 73% of possible points, its third straight A.
What grades does N.B. Cook Elementary serve?
Cook serves kindergarten through fifth grade, according to the federal NCES directory. It is at 1310 N. 12th Ave., and its main line is 850-595-6826.
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