Mildred C Wells Preparatory Academy

As a low-enrollment elementary campus in BENTON HARBOR, Michigan, Mildred C Wells Preparatory Academy serves 227 students from grades K through 8, run under Mildred C. Wells Preparatory Academy. Enrollment runs roughly 38% below the state mean of about 369.

Mildred C. Wells Preparatory Academy is the operating authority for Mildred C Wells Preparatory Academy, handling staffing, calendars, and reporting to the state department of education.

On the student-mix side, Mildred C Wells Preparatory Academy lists that 97% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority. Beyond that, the school shows 2% Hispanic. That is meaningfully more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 13%.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 14 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.3:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 100% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is higher than Berrien County's rate of about 55%.

Around the school, Berrien County reports that median household income runs about $65,425, roughly 31% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Berrien County runs 75 public schools (combined enrollment of about 21,027 students), of which Mildred C Wells Preparatory Academy is one.

Nearest neighbor: Benton Harbor Charter School Academy, around 0.3 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Mildred C Wells Preparatory Academy.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting. Mildred C Wells Preparatory Academy is a charter school, which puts it inside the public-school system but outside the standard district-managed model.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged up 16%: 196 students in 2018 compared to 227 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 19.0:1 in 2018 to 16.3:1 today.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.