Parkside Elementary

Parkside Elementary, a mid-tier elementary-level community in Charlotte, North Carolina, overseen by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, instructs 437 students, covering grades pre-K through 5.

Within Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which oversees 186 schools and 145,014 students, Parkside Elementary is one campus in the system.

Demographically, Parkside Elementary shows that the largest single group is Black, at 65% of enrollment. The remainder consists of 14% Hispanic, 8% White, 6% Asian, 6% multiracial. By comparison, Mecklenburg County as a whole is about 30% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Parkside Elementary reports 27 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 16.2:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 14.9:1 average. Roughly 99% of students at Parkside Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Mecklenburg County (around 71%), the school's rate is north of typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Parkside Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 48.5%; this one delivers 60.5%.

In the broader community, census data for Mecklenburg County shows the typical household earns roughly $87,005 per year, roughly 49% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Mecklenburg County runs 226 public schools (combined enrollment of about 170,407 students), of which Parkside Elementary is one.

Mallard Creek High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Parkside Elementary. Among the 6 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Parkside Elementary ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 48.9%.

The school occupies a metropolitan site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count rose 19%: 367 students in 2018 compared to 437 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio grew from 14.6:1 in 2018 to 16.2:1 today.

On the community side, members of the Parkside Elementary community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.