Baechtel Grove Middle

Baechtel Grove Middle is a junior high of compact scale in Willits, California, overseen by Willits Unified, works with 331 students in grades 6 through 8. Compared to the state average of about 659 students per school, that is 50% leaner than typical.

Willits Unified comprises 6 schools with combined enrollment of 1,529 students; Baechtel Grove Middle is among them.

Looking at the student body, Baechtel Grove Middle records that the most-represented group is White (39%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 35% Hispanic, 20% multiracial, 5% Native American. That is meaningfully less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 64%.

On the income-and-resources front, Baechtel Grove Middle logs 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 19.4:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 20.7:1 average. About 60% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Mendocino County runs at roughly 75%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Baechtel Grove Middle is in the bottom 10% of California public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 43.5%; Baechtel Grove Middle posts 10.6%, -32.9 points below that line.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (Mendocino County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $68,092 per year, roughly 25% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. Across Mendocino County's 66 public schools (combined enrollment of about 12,738 students), Baechtel Grove Middle is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Blosser Lane Elementary, roughly 0.3 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 6 other public schools cluster around Baechtel Grove Middle. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Baechtel Grove Middle at 4th of 4; the average score across the group is 20.0%.

The school occupies a town-center site.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count climbed 9%: 303 students in 2018 compared to 331 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 45% to 39% across the same window.

On allk12, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.