Oliver W Holmes Middle School

Oliver W Holmes Middle School is a moderately sized middle-grades school in Wheeling, Illinois, run under Wheeling CCSD 21. The school educates 615 students in grades 6 through 8. By comparison, Illinois's public schools average about 462 students each, so Oliver W Holmes Middle School sits 33% larger than that benchmark.

Wheeling CCSD 21 runs 12 schools in total, collectively educating 6,298 students. Oliver W Holmes Middle School is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, Oliver W Holmes Middle School lists that 73% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. Other groups include 14% White, 6% Asian, 5% Black, 2% multiracial. That is visibly more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 27%.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 56 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 10.9:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.0:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 71% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Oliver W Holmes Middle School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 30.4% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 22.3%.

Around the school, Cook County reports that median household earnings sit near $83,498, roughly 43% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Cook County's 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), Oliver W Holmes Middle School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Walt Whitman Elem School, around 0.3 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Oliver W Holmes Middle School. On composite proficiency, Oliver W Holmes Middle School comes 5th of 6 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 30.2%.

The campus sits in an outer-ring setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 18%: 754 students in 2018 compared to 615 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 12.6:1 in 2018 to 10.9:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.