Deer Lakes MS

As a low-enrollment junior high in Cheswick, Pennsylvania, Deer Lakes MS enrolls 383 students from grades 6 through 8, overseen by Deer Lakes SD. By comparison, Pennsylvania's public schools average about 594 students each, so Deer Lakes MS sits 36% below that benchmark.

Across the 4 schools in Deer Lakes SD (1,689 students total), Deer Lakes MS accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Deer Lakes MS lists that 93% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder reads as 4% multiracial, 2% Hispanic. By comparison, Allegheny County as a whole is about 76% White, so the school skews noticeably more White than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Deer Lakes MS lists 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 10.9:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.2:1, putting Deer Lakes MS tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 45% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is below Allegheny County's rate of about 54%.

After controlling for student poverty, Deer Lakes MS sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 58.1%; this one delivers 50.7%.

In the broader community, Allegheny County reports that median household income runs about $78,548, roughly 46% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Allegheny County runs 277 public schools (combined enrollment of about 141,392 students), of which Deer Lakes MS is one.

Nearest neighbor: East Union Intrmd Sch, around 0.2 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 7 other public schools cluster around Deer Lakes MS. On composite proficiency, Deer Lakes MS comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 74.1%.

The school occupies a bedroom-community site.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 16%: 456 students in 2018 compared to 383 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 15.2:1 in 2018 to 10.9:1 today.

On allk12, recent activity here tends to focus on science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.