East Arcadia Elementary

East Arcadia Elementary is one of the micro-enrollment elementary campuss in Riegelwood, North Carolina, operated by Bladen County Schools, with 68 students on its rolls from grades K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 467 students per school, that is 85% smaller than typical.

Across the 12 schools in Bladen County Schools (3,928 students total), East Arcadia Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

For racial and ethnic makeup, East Arcadia Elementary records that the largest single group is Black at 50%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school lists 26% Hispanic, 9% White, 7% multiracial, 6% Native American. The wider county runs roughly 32% Black, putting the school's mix considerably more Black than the area baseline.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 8 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 8.7:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 14.9:1 average. Around 96% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), East Arcadia Elementary is in the bottom 10% of North Carolina public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 49.6%; East Arcadia Elementary posts 22.7%, -26.9 points below that line.

Around the school, ACS estimates for Bladen County put the typical household earns roughly $42,422 per year, 20% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 19%. Across Bladen County's 15 public schools (combined enrollment of about 4,756 students), East Arcadia Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Acme Delco Elementary, around 7.1 miles off. On composite proficiency, East Arcadia Elementary comes 7th of 7 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 37.7%.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at East Arcadia Elementary has edged down 41%, going from 116 students in 2018 to 68 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share declined from 59% to 50%. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 10.3:1 in 2018 to 8.7:1 today.

Inside the community feed, the feed for East Arcadia Elementary typically covers enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.