Joseph R. Pye Elementary

Joseph R. Pye Elementary is a K-5 school of mid-tier scale in Ladson, South Carolina, one of the schools within Dorchester 02, hosting 775 students in grades pre-K through 5. By comparison, South Carolina's public schools average about 526 students each, so Joseph R. Pye Elementary sits 47% larger than that benchmark.

Joseph R. Pye Elementary is one of 25 schools operated by Dorchester 02, a district that serves 25,928 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Joseph R. Pye Elementary reports that the most-represented group is White (41%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 29% Black, 14% Hispanic, 12% multiracial, 4% Asian. That is considerably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 62%.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 55 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.0:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Dorchester County indicate the typical household earns roughly $78,198 per year, roughly 30% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Dorchester County runs 35 public schools (combined enrollment of about 29,832 students), of which Joseph R. Pye Elementary is one.

The closest other public school is Oakbrook Elementary, roughly 1.1 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The campus sits in a metropolitan setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 14%: 901 students in 2018 compared to 775 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 51% to 41%. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 15.7:1 in 2018 to 14.0:1 today.

On this page, the feed for Joseph R. Pye Elementary typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.