Murphey Candler Elementary School

528 Students

Elementary School Pre-K - 5th

School Overview

Murphy Candler Elementary School, located on S Goddard Road in Lithonia, Georgia, is a public school serving students within the DeKalb County School District. As a neighborhood school, it focuses on providing a foundational academic experience for children in the surrounding community, emphasizing core curriculum subjects such as literacy, mathematics, science, and social studies. The school environment is designed to foster both academic growth and character development, aiming to prepare students for the transition to middle school within the district’s educational framework.

Beyond academics, Murphy Candler Elementary is integrated into the local Lithonia community, often serving as a hub for family engagement and extracurricular involvement. Like many schools in the DeKalb County system, the faculty and staff work to utilize standardized state benchmarks to track student progress while implementing supportive programs to meet the diverse needs of its student population. For families living in the area, the school remains a key institution for early childhood development and community cohesion.

528

Total Students

34.1

Full-Time Teachers

15.5

Student/Teacher Ratio

97.0%

Free/Reduced Lunch

Student Demographics

Student Demographics Data Table

Student Demographics for Murphey Candler Elementary School
Demographic	Student Count
White	3
Hispanic	22
Black	479
Two or More	17
American Indian	6
Pacific Islander	1

Black
479 (90.7 %)
Hispanic
22 (4.2 %)
Two or More
17 (3.2 %)
American Indian
6 (1.1 %)
White
3 (0.6 %)
Pacific Islander
1 (0.2 %)

School Location

School Details

Status:	Open
School Level:	Elementary School
School Type:	Regular School
Charter Status:*	Public Non-Charter
Virtual Instruction:	No virtual instruction
Shared Time Status:	No
District:	DeKalb County
Phone:	(678)676-9102
Grade Range:	Pre-K - 5th
Total Students:	528
Full-Time Teachers (FTE):	34.1
Pupil/Teacher Ratio:	15.5
NSLP Participation:¹	Yes under Community Eligibility Option (CEO)
Qualified Free Lunch:	512
Qualified Reduced Lunch:	0

* Charter Schools: A public charter school is a publicly funded school that operates independently under a legislative contract (or "charter") with a state, school district, or designated authorizing entity. Charters grant these schools greater operational flexibility over curriculum, staffing, and budgeting in exchange for strict accountability to achieve performance standards established in their charter agreement.

¹ National School Lunch Program (NSLP): The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to eligible children each school day based on household income thresholds or community eligibility options (CEO).

Title I Program Overview: Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) allocates federal financial assistance to local educational agencies and public schools with high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards.

Grades Taught

Pre-Kindergarten 34

Kindergarten 66

Grade 1 72

Grade 2 85

Grade 3 82

Grade 4 98

Grade 5 91