Berry Elementary School

Berry Elementary School, a roomy K-5 school in Waldorf, Maryland, one of the schools within Charles County Public Schools, instructs 726 students, covering grades pre-K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 481 students per school, that is 51% larger than typical.

Charles County Public Schools runs 38 schools in total, collectively educating 28,162 students. Berry Elementary School is one of those campuses.

Demographically, Berry Elementary School reports that the largest single group is Black, at 64% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school records 15% Hispanic, 11% multiracial, 5% White, 5% Asian. That is considerably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 49%.

In terms of school funding signals, The school lists 45 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 16.1:1. The state averages around 13.8:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. About 53% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Berry Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 42.9%, the actual is 37.7%, a residual of -5.2 points.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Charles County indicate the typical household earns roughly $122,816 per year, about 34% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 5%. Across Charles County's 40 public schools (combined enrollment of about 28,162 students), Berry Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Mattawoman Middle School, around 0.1 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Berry Elementary School. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Berry Elementary School ranks 6th on composite proficiency, above the local average of 35.8%.

The school occupies an outer-ring site.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 25%: 967 students in 2018 compared to 726 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 7% to 15% across the same window. Class-load math has pulled in: from 19.4:1 in 2018 to 16.1:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.