Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary

Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary, an average-sized primary school in Leonardtown, Maryland, one of the schools within St. Mary's County Public Schools, teaches 516 students, covering grades pre-K through 5.

St. Mary's County Public Schools comprises 26 schools with combined enrollment of 16,905 students; Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary is among them.

In terms of who attends, Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary shows that 72% of the student body identifies as White. Beyond that, the school lists 9% multiracial, 9% Black, 6% Hispanic, 3% Asian. Compared to St. Mary's County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.9:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.8:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. An estimated 20% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, St. Mary's County runs at roughly 41%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 62.5%, the actual is 63.9%, a residual of +1.3 points.

Around the school, census data for St. Mary's County shows median household earnings sit near $119,446, 37% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across St. Mary's County's 28 public schools (combined enrollment of about 16,905 students), Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Leonardtown Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 6 other public schools cluster around Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary at 2nd of 9; the average score across the group is 53.4%.

The campus sits in a town-based setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary has edged down 14%, going from 602 students in 2018 to 516 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 80% to 72%. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 16.8:1 in 2018 to 14.9:1 today.

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