Lamar Reese School of the Arts

Lamar Reese School of the Arts is one of the cozy primary schools in Albany, Georgia, overseen by Dougherty County, with 368 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 39% below the state mean of about 605.

Across the 22 schools in Dougherty County (13,241 students total), Lamar Reese School of the Arts accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Lamar Reese School of the Arts shows that 98% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority. The wider county runs roughly 71% Black, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Black than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, Lamar Reese School of the Arts logs 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.3:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.3:1, putting Lamar Reese School of the Arts tighter than the state norm the norm. About 100% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

After controlling for student poverty, Lamar Reese School of the Arts ranks in the top 10% of Georgia public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 25.7%; Lamar Reese School of the Arts posts 41.8%, +16.2 points above that line.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Dougherty County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $49,044 per year, roughly 23% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 19%. In all, Dougherty County runs 22 public schools (combined enrollment of about 13,241 students), of which Lamar Reese School of the Arts is one.

Martin Luther King- Jr. Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Lamar Reese School of the Arts. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Lamar Reese School of the Arts at 2nd of 9; the average score across the group is 21.5%.

The school occupies a small-town site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 28%: 511 students in 2018 compared to 368 in 2025. Class-load math has fell: from 15.3:1 in 2018 to 12.3:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.