John P Powell Middle School

As a rural-scale 6-8 campus in Lafayette, Alabama, John P Powell Middle School instructs 140 students from grades 6 through 8, part of Chambers County. Enrollment runs roughly 72% smaller than the state mean of about 508.

Within Chambers County, which oversees 9 schools and 3,203 students, John P Powell Middle School is one campus in the system.

Looking at the student body, John P Powell Middle School records that the largest single group is Black, at 73% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school logs 18% White, 7% Hispanic, 2% multiracial. By comparison, Chambers County as a whole is about 38% Black, so the school skews considerably more Black than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 8 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 18.2:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 17.9:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 76% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably above Chambers County's rate of about 61%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, John P Powell Middle School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 28.4% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 16.8%.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for Chambers County put the typical household earns roughly $49,656 per year, about 15% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 13%. In all, Chambers County runs 13 public schools (combined enrollment of about 4,174 students), of which John P Powell Middle School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Lafayette Eastside Elementary School, around 0.0 miles off. 3 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), John P Powell Middle School ranks 7th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 40.1%.

Geographically, the school is in a rural area.

Trend over the last 7 years. John P Powell Middle School's enrollment has increased 4% since 2018, when it stood at 134 (now 140). Over the same period, the Black share contracted from 93% to 73%. Class-load math has loosened: from 12.6:1 in 2018 to 18.2:1 in 2025.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.