Richard J Duncan Elementary

Set in SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Michigan, Richard J Duncan Elementary is a sprawling elementary school, run under Utica Community Schools. It hosts 716 students across grades pre-K through 6. Compared to the state average of about 369 students per school, that is 94% above typical.

Within Utica Community Schools, which oversees 37 schools and 25,574 students, Richard J Duncan Elementary is one campus in the system.

On the student-mix side, Richard J Duncan Elementary shows that the student body is overwhelmingly White (87%); the rest looks like 4% Asian, 4% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. That is meaningfully more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 75%.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 42 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.9:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 15.8:1 average. An estimated 31% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Macomb County (around 52%), the school's rate is meaningfully below typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Richard J Duncan Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 52.5%, the actual is 51.6%, a residual of -0.9 points.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for Macomb County put median household income runs about $77,837, 28% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. Richard J Duncan Elementary is one of 236 public schools in Macomb County (combined enrollment of about 115,743 students).

Nearest neighbor: Beacon Tree Elementary School, around 0.9 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Richard J Duncan Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Richard J Duncan Elementary at 4th of 7; the average score across the group is 49.7%.

Geographically, the school is in a suburban area.

Looking at the recent track record. Richard J Duncan Elementary's enrollment has stayed largely flat since 2018, when it stood at 702 (now 716). Over the same period, the White share decreased from 94% to 87%. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 18.7:1 in 2018 to 16.9:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.