A H Snipes Academy of Arts/Des

A H Snipes Academy of Arts/Des is an elementary-level community of compact scale in Wilmington, North Carolina, run under New Hanover County Schools, serveing 342 students in grades K through 5. That puts it 27% smaller than the typical public school in North Carolina, which averages around 467 students.

A H Snipes Academy of Arts/Des is one of 42 schools operated by New Hanover County Schools, a district that hosts 24,791 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, A H Snipes Academy of Arts/Des shows that 63% of the student body identifies as Black; the rest breaks down as 18% Hispanic, 11% White, 8% multiracial. That is considerably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 11%.

In terms of school funding signals, The school employs 27 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 12.7:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 14.9:1 average. Around 99% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably above New Hanover County's rate of about 67%.

After controlling for student poverty, A H Snipes Academy of Arts/Des tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 48.6% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 36.6%.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for New Hanover County put median household earnings sit near $75,166, 45% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, New Hanover County runs 50 public schools (combined enrollment of about 27,460 students), of which A H Snipes Academy of Arts/Des is one.

The closest other public school is R Freeman Sch of Engineering, roughly 0.5 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, A H Snipes Academy of Arts/Des comes 2nd of 6 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 34.3%.

A H Snipes Academy of Arts/Des operates from an urban location.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at A H Snipes Academy of Arts/Des has ticked down 8%, going from 371 students in 2018 to 342 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment edged down from 81% to 63% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 10.0:1 in 2018 to 12.7:1 today.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Members of the school community can share what they know.