South Highlands Middle School

South Highlands Middle School is a small middle school in Union Springs, Alabama, overseen by Bullock County. The school enrolls 382 students in grades 5 through 8. By comparison, Alabama's public schools average about 508 students each, so South Highlands Middle School sits 25% below that benchmark.

Within Bullock County, which oversees 3 schools and 1,327 students, South Highlands Middle School is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, South Highlands Middle School logs that 78% of the student body identifies as Black. The remainder is composed of 21% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 70% Black, putting the school's mix noticeably more Black than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, The school employs 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 17.4:1. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 87% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), South Highlands Middle School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 20.5%; this one delivers 17.0%.

Around the school, the surrounding county (Bullock County) records that the typical household earns roughly $31,310 per year, 8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 25%. South Highlands Middle School is one of 4 public schools in Bullock County (combined enrollment of about 1,327 students).

Nearest neighbor: Bullock County High School, around 0.3 miles off. Within five miles, there are 2 other public schools. On composite proficiency, South Highlands Middle School comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 40.0%.

South Highlands Middle School operates from a low-density location.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at South Highlands Middle School has declined 8%, going from 417 students in 2018 to 382 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share ticked up from 15% to 21%. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 19.9:1 in 2018 to 17.4:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.