City of Medicine Academy

City of Medicine Academy is one of the small four-year high schools in Durham, North Carolina, operated by Durham Public Schools, with 329 students on its rolls from grades 9 through 13. Compared to the state average of about 761 students per school, that is 57% smaller than typical.

Durham Public Schools runs 55 schools in total, collectively educating 31,797 students. City of Medicine Academy is one of those campuses.

In terms of who attends, City of Medicine Academy lists that 48% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups; the rest is composed of 37% Black, 7% White, 5% multiracial, 3% Asian. That is visibly more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 16%.

On the resource side, The school employs 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 16.6:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 19.6:1 average. Around 98% 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, City of Medicine Academy is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 48.8%; this one delivers 90.5%, a residual of +41.7 points.

Zooming out to the county, Durham County reports that the typical household earns roughly $82,316 per year, 55% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, Durham County runs 74 public schools (combined enrollment of about 46,109 students), of which City of Medicine Academy is one.

The closest other public school is Voyager Academy, roughly 0.6 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, City of Medicine Academy comes 1st of 6 in the immediate cluster, above the nearby-schools average of 39.8%.

City of Medicine Academy operates from a city-core location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at City of Medicine Academy has fell 4%, going from 342 students in 2018 to 329 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment decreased from 44% to 37% over that span. Class-load math has rose: from 14.6:1 in 2018 to 16.6:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.