Norris Elementary School

Norris Elementary School is a tight-knit K-5 school in Thomson, Georgia, run under McDuffie County. The school hosts 287 students in grades 4 through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 53% smaller than the state mean of about 605.

McDuffie County runs 6 schools in total, collectively educating 3,088 students. Norris Elementary School is one of those campuses.

Demographically, Norris Elementary School logs that 72% of the student body identifies as Black. The remainder consists of 18% White, 6% multiracial, 2% Hispanic. That is visibly more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 40%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school reports having 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 13.1:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 100% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, McDuffie County runs at roughly 86%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Norris Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 25.7%, the actual is 30.7%, a residual of +5.0 points.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (McDuffie County) shows that median household income runs about $56,733, roughly 18% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 18% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Norris Elementary School is one of 6 public schools in McDuffie County (combined enrollment of about 3,088 students).

Thomson-McDuffie Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.8 miles from this campus. 4 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Norris Elementary School at 6th of 8; the average score across the group is 38.2%.

The school occupies a town-center site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 37%: 459 students in 2018 compared to 287 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 24% to 18% across the same window. Class-load math has fell: from 15.8:1 in 2018 to 13.1:1 in 2025.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.