Sylvester Elementary School

Sylvester Elementary School, a mid-sized primary school in BERRIEN SPRINGS, Michigan, overseen by Berrien Springs Public Schools, serves 394 students, covering grades 2 through 5.

Across the 9 schools in Berrien Springs Public Schools (4,989 students total), Sylvester Elementary School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, Sylvester Elementary School records that the largest single group is White at 42%, but no single group is in the majority; the rest is composed of 31% Black, 14% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 3% Asian. By comparison, Berrien County as a whole is about 74% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 27 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.6:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 15.8:1 average. Around 62% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Sylvester Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 38.7%; this one delivers 40.2%.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Berrien County indicate median household income runs about $65,425, about 31% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. Across Berrien County's 75 public schools (combined enrollment of about 21,027 students), Sylvester Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

Berrien Springs High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Sylvester Elementary School.

The campus sits in a town-based setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Sylvester Elementary School's enrollment has remained close to its prior level since 2018, when it stood at 389 (now 394). The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 16.3:1 in 2018 to 14.6:1 today.

On the community side, the feed for Sylvester Elementary School typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.