S. J. Welsh Middle School

S. J. Welsh Middle School, a sizable middle-grades school in Lake Charles, Louisiana, one of the schools within Calcasieu Parish, instructs 1,011 students, covering grades 6 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 130% above the state mean of about 440.

Calcasieu Parish runs 56 schools in total, collectively educating 27,851 students. S. J. Welsh Middle School is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, S. J. Welsh Middle School logs that 51% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder consists of 30% Black, 7% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 5% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 66% White, putting the school's mix considerably less White than the area baseline.

On the resource side, The school reports having 90 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 11.2:1. The state averages around 41.0:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 47% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is noticeably below Calcasieu Parish's rate of about 59%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), S. J. Welsh Middle School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 50.2% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 44.3%.

Around the school, ACS estimates for Calcasieu Parish put median household income runs about $67,564, roughly 25% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 13% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Calcasieu Parish's 61 public schools (combined enrollment of about 30,278 students), S. J. Welsh Middle School is one campus in the mix.

Alfred M. Barbe High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts S. J. Welsh Middle School at 3rd of 8; the average score across the group is 42.1%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 26%: 1,374 students in 2018 compared to 1,011 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 37% to 30% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 17.3:1 in 2018 to 11.2:1 today.

On this page, posts here usually surface around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.