Original Research by School Decision on Merrick Academy-queens Public Charter School
Merrick Academy-Queens is a public charter school system serving kindergarten through fifth grade, and recently through seventh grade, in Laurelton. The organization operates on a small scale relative to its county; enrollment sits at a level typical for a single elementary school rather than a district, with a stable distribution across grades.
The student body is predominantly Black, with smaller populations of Hispanic students and students who identify as multiracial. The school serves very few Asian or white students and maintains low numbers of students identifying as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility and on special education and English learner enrollment is not available; the school's own publicly reported information does not include these metrics, so a parent seeking that information would want to contact the school directly.
State assessment proficiency data is absent from the records reviewed. The school has no published four-year graduation rate because it does not serve high school grades. Without those measures, the clearest performance window comes from the chronic absenteeism rate, where the school's attendance pattern sits above the midpoint among districts across Queens County, meaning the school's chronic absenteeism rate is higher than the median for the county. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, both to understand what drives the pattern and what attendance support is in place.
Per-pupil spending falls in the middle range, lower half, compared to other districts in the county. The school operates across two separate campuses, one for grades K-5 and one for upper grades, with busing available via public routes.
Recent changes shape the school's trajectory. The academy has expanded from its original K-5 configuration to add middle school, beginning with sixth grade in the 2024-25 school year and planning to serve through eighth grade by the 2026-27 school year. This means families can now keep their children in the school longer rather than needing to seek a new placement at middle school. The school relocated to a new address in Laurelton and is pursuing International Baccalaureate authorization as a Candidate School for the Primary Years Programme, alongside a STEAM-focused, inquiry-based instructional model. Candidate status carries no guarantee of eventual authorization, and a parent interested in the IB pathway would want to confirm timelines and expectations with the school.
The school's position in the county and its program direction, together with its attendance metrics, are the clearest factors a parent would evaluate alongside any direct visits or conversations with staff about academic outcomes and day-to-day school life.
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