Southside Early Childhood Center

As a tight-knit primary school in Hartsville, South Carolina, Southside Early Childhood Center caters to 360 students from grades pre-K through K, overseen by Darlington 01. Enrollment runs roughly 32% below the state mean of about 526.

Darlington 01 comprises 18 schools with combined enrollment of 8,793 students; Southside Early Childhood Center is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Southside Early Childhood Center shows that the most-represented group is Black (51%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 34% White, 8% multiracial, 6% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 41% Black, putting the school's mix considerably more Black than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.2:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.3:1 average.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Darlington County indicate median household earnings sit near $48,581, about 20% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 18%. Across Darlington County's 21 public schools (combined enrollment of about 9,482 students), Southside Early Childhood Center is one campus in the mix.

Hartsville High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.0 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

Geographically, the school is in a small-town area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Southside Early Childhood Center's enrollment has decreased 12% since 2018, when it stood at 407 (now 360). Over the same period, the White share decreased from 42% to 34%. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 17.7:1 in 2018 to 11.2:1 today.

On this page, members of the Southside Early Childhood Center community share and discuss enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.