Dr John Codington Elem

Dr John Codington Elem is a reasonably sized elementary school in Wilmington, North Carolina, operated by New Hanover County Schools. The school educates 470 students in grades K through 5.

Within New Hanover County Schools, which oversees 42 schools and 24,791 students, Dr John Codington Elem is one campus in the system.

In terms of who attends, Dr John Codington Elem reports that the largest single group is White, at 80% of enrollment; the rest comes out to 7% Hispanic, 6% Black, 5% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the income-and-resources front, The school lists 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 15.0:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 27% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is south of New Hanover County's rate of about 67%.

After controlling for student poverty, Dr John Codington Elem performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 70.7%, the actual is 73.6%, a residual of +2.8 points.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for New Hanover County put the typical household earns roughly $75,166 per year, about 45% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. In all, New Hanover County runs 50 public schools (combined enrollment of about 27,460 students), of which Dr John Codington Elem is one.

The closest other public school is Pine Valley Elementary, roughly 1.3 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Dr John Codington Elem comes 1st of 7 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 57.1%.

The school occupies a city-core site.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 15%: 554 students in 2018 compared to 470 in 2025. Class-load math has narrowed: from 16.3:1 in 2018 to 15.0:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the feed for Dr John Codington Elem typically covers open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.