Icard Elementary

Icard Elementary operates as a tight-knit elementary-level community in Connelly Springs, North Carolina, part of Burke County Schools. Current enrollment sits at 265 students spanning grades pre-K through 5. By comparison, North Carolina's public schools average about 467 students each, so Icard Elementary sits 43% smaller than that benchmark.

Icard Elementary is one of 26 schools operated by Burke County Schools, a district that hosts 11,667 students overall.

Looking at the student body, Icard Elementary lists that White students make up the majority at 71%; the rest comes out to 12% Hispanic, 12% Asian, 5% multiracial. By comparison, Burke County as a whole is about 81% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Icard Elementary shows 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.7:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 14.9:1, putting Icard Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 99% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Icard Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 48.6% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 59.7%.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Burke County put the typical household earns roughly $58,592 per year, 21% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 12% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Icard Elementary is one of 30 public schools in Burke County (combined enrollment of about 12,360 students).

Nearest neighbor: East Burke High, around 0.9 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 6 other public schools cluster around Icard Elementary. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Icard Elementary ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 58.3%.

Icard Elementary operates from a suburban location.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Icard Elementary has shrank 13%, going from 306 students in 2018 to 265 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share shrank from 76% to 71%. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 16.1:1 in 2018 to 12.7:1 today.

On this page, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.