Nichols Middle School

As a modestly sized intermediate school in Canton, Mississippi, Nichols Middle School enrolls 362 students from grades 6 through 8, overseen by Canton Public Schools.

Canton Public Schools runs 7 schools in total, collectively educating 3,157 students. Nichols Middle School is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Nichols Middle School lists that 79% of the student body identifies as Black. Beyond that, the school records 17% Hispanic, 3% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 37% Black, putting the school's mix visibly more Black than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, Nichols Middle School lists 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.9:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.7:1 average. Roughly 100% of students at Nichols Middle School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Madison County (around 52%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Nichols Middle School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 44.1%, the actual is 30.3%, a residual of -13.9 points.

Around the school, ACS estimates for Madison County put median household earnings sit near $83,441, roughly 50% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. In all, Madison County runs 34 public schools (combined enrollment of about 16,432 students), of which Nichols Middle School is one.

McNeal Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools.

Nichols Middle School operates from a small-town location.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count changed only slightly: 355 students in 2018 compared to 362 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 90% to 79% across the same window. Class-load math has tightened: from 14.1:1 in 2018 to 12.9:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Nichols Middle School community share and discuss fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.