Leicester Elementary

Located at 31 Gilbert Road, in Leicester, North Carolina, Leicester Elementary is a reasonably sized elementary school that instructs 399 students (grades pre-K through 4), part of Buncombe County Schools.

Within Buncombe County Schools, which oversees 45 schools and 22,452 students, Leicester Elementary is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Leicester Elementary records that 81% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder consists of 15% Hispanic, 2% Black. Compared to Buncombe County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 26 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 15.4:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Around 99% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Buncombe County runs at roughly 88%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Leicester Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 48.7%; this one delivers 52.1%.

In the broader community, ACS estimates for Buncombe County put the typical household earns roughly $74,436 per year, roughly 46% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. In all, Buncombe County runs 61 public schools (combined enrollment of about 29,908 students), of which Leicester Elementary is one.

The closest other public school is Erwin Middle, roughly 5.2 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. On composite proficiency, Leicester Elementary comes 2nd of 9 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 39.1%.

The campus sits in a countryside setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 6%: 425 students in 2018 compared to 399 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 10% to 15% across the same window. Class-load math has widened: from 12.8:1 in 2018 to 15.4:1 in 2025.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.