PS 186 CASTLEWOOD

As a small K-5 school in BELLEROSE, New York, PS 186 CASTLEWOOD hosts 319 students from grades pre-K through 5, one of the schools within NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #26. That puts it 28% leaner than the typical public school in New York, which averages around 443 students.

NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #26 runs 34 schools in total, collectively educating 29,203 students. PS 186 CASTLEWOOD is one of those campuses.

Demographically, PS 186 CASTLEWOOD records that 41% of students identify as Asian, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups; the rest comes out to 24% Hispanic, 16% White, 12% Black, 4% multiracial. By comparison, Queens County as a whole is about 26% Asian, so the school skews meaningfully more Asian than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 48 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 6.7:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 12.8:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 48% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Queens County runs at roughly 77%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, PS 186 CASTLEWOOD sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 57.4%; this one delivers 72.3%.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Queens County shows median household income runs about $86,136, roughly 36% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Queens County's 392 public schools (combined enrollment of about 268,205 students), PS 186 CASTLEWOOD is one campus in the mix.

PS 224 is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around PS 186 CASTLEWOOD. On composite proficiency, PS 186 CASTLEWOOD comes 2nd of 5 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 59.5%.

Geographically, the school is in an inner-city area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 17%: 384 students in 2018 compared to 319 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share fell from 29% to 16%.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.