Union Elementary

Set in Rowland, North Carolina, Union Elementary is a tight-knit primary school, operated by Public Schools of Robeson County. It teaches 351 students across grades pre-K through 6. That puts it 25% below the typical public school in North Carolina, which averages around 467 students.

Public Schools of Robeson County comprises 36 schools with combined enrollment of 20,856 students; Union Elementary is among them.

On the student-mix side, Union Elementary reports that nearly all students (84%) are Native American. Other groups include 5% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, 3% Black, 3% White.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Union Elementary has 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 15.7:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 14.9:1 average. An estimated 99% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

With demographic context factored in, Union Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 48.6%, the actual is 59.4%, a residual of +10.8 points.

In the broader community, Robeson County reports that median household income runs about $41,978, roughly 15% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 21% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Union Elementary is one of 40 public schools in Robeson County (combined enrollment of about 21,625 students).

Nearest neighbor: Pembroke Middle, around 3.4 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 5 other public schools cluster around Union Elementary. On composite proficiency, Union Elementary comes 1st of 7 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 38.0%.

The campus sits in an outlying setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 27%: 483 students in 2018 compared to 351 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment rose from 1% to 5% over that span. Class-load math has pulled in: from 19.0:1 in 2018 to 15.7:1 in 2025.

On this page, members of the Union Elementary community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.