Durham Community School

Durham Community School is an elementary-level community of expansive scale in Durham, Maine, one of the schools within RSU 05, enrolling 469 students in grades pre-K through 8. That puts it 105% larger than the typical public school in Maine, which averages around 229 students.

Within RSU 05, which oversees 6 schools and 2,001 students, Durham Community School is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Durham Community School logs that 92% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder is composed of 3% multiracial, 3% Hispanic.

On the resource side, The school currently runs with 43 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 11.0:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 16% of students at Durham Community School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Androscoggin County runs at roughly 52%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

Around the school, ACS estimates for Androscoggin County put median household income runs about $67,873, roughly 23% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. Durham Community School is one of 36 public schools in Androscoggin County (combined enrollment of about 15,588 students).

Philip W Sugg Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 3.5 miles from this campus. 3 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count increased 9%: 432 students in 2018 compared to 469 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share fell from 99% to 92%. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 12.3:1 in 2018 to 11.0:1 today.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.