Southside High School

Located at 2361 School Drive, in Southside, Alabama, Southside High School is a reasonably sized four-year high school that educates 825 students (grades 9 through 12), part of Etowah County. Compared to the state average of about 682 students per school, that is 21% larger than typical.

Southside High School is one of 22 schools operated by Etowah County, a district that educates 8,739 students overall.

Looking at the student body, Southside High School shows that the student body is overwhelmingly White (84%); the rest looks like 6% Black, 5% Hispanic, 3% multiracial, 3% Asian.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 43 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 19.1:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 17.2:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 34% of students at Southside High School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Etowah County runs at roughly 58%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Southside High School is in the bottom 10% of Alabama public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 59.5%; Southside High School posts 28.7%, -30.8 points below that line.

Around the school, census data for Etowah County shows median household income runs about $54,563, 18% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 12%. Southside High School is one of 42 public schools in Etowah County (combined enrollment of about 15,139 students).

Southside Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.8 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 4 other public schools cluster around Southside High School. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Southside High School ranks 9th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 36.4%.

Southside High School operates from an outer-ring location.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Southside High School has changed only slightly, going from 820 students in 2018 to 825 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share contracted from 88% to 84%. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 18.1:1 in 2018 to 19.1:1 today.

On this page, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.