Parchment North Elem School

As a compact K-5 school in KALAMAZOO, Michigan, Parchment North Elem School hosts 208 students from grades 4 through 5, part of Parchment School District. That puts it 44% smaller than the typical public school in Michigan, which averages around 369 students.

Parchment North Elem School is one of 6 schools operated by Parchment School District, a district that serves 1,558 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Parchment North Elem School logs that the largest single group is White, at 66% of enrollment. The remainder looks like 13% Black, 12% multiracial, 8% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 76% White, putting the school's mix considerably less White than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Parchment North Elem School has 14 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.9:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 15.8:1 average. An estimated 54% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Kalamazoo County (around 45%), the school's rate is meaningfully above typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Parchment North Elem School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 42.4%, the actual is 31.9%, a residual of -10.5 points.

In the surrounding community, Kalamazoo County reports that the typical household earns roughly $72,532 per year, roughly 41% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, Kalamazoo County runs 93 public schools (combined enrollment of about 34,151 students), of which Parchment North Elem School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Parchment High School, around 0.7 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools.

Geographically, the school is in an outer-ring area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 17%: 250 students in 2018 compared to 208 in 2025. Class-load math has pulled in: from 20.9:1 in 2018 to 14.9:1 in 2025.

On this page, posts here usually surface around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.