UNION ACADEMY

UNION ACADEMY is one of the cozy middle schools in BARTOW, Florida, operated by POLK, with 382 students on its rolls from grades 6 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 52% smaller than the state mean of about 794.

POLK comprises 163 schools with combined enrollment of 116,552 students; UNION ACADEMY is among them.

In terms of who attends, UNION ACADEMY shows that the most-represented group is White (52%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Beyond that, the school lists 21% Black, 19% Hispanic, 4% Asian, 4% multiracial. That composition is broadly in line with Polk County as a whole.

On the income-and-resources front, The school reports having 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 19.1:1. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 49% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Polk County runs at roughly 65%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), UNION ACADEMY performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 56.6%, the actual is 66.2%, a residual of +9.6 points.

In the broader community, census data for Polk County shows the typical household earns roughly $65,978 per year, roughly 24% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Polk County's 172 public schools (combined enrollment of about 117,004 students), UNION ACADEMY is one campus in the mix.

TRANSITION SCHOOL is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around UNION ACADEMY. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts UNION ACADEMY at 1st of 4; the average score across the group is 50.0%.

UNION ACADEMY operates from a town-center location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 9%: 419 students in 2018 compared to 382 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 58% to 52% across the same window. Class-load math has widened: from 15.5:1 in 2018 to 19.1:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, recent activity here tends to focus on fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.