Bates Middle

Bates Middle is a modestly sized junior high in Sumter, South Carolina, operated by Sumter 01. The school enrolls 481 students in grades 6 through 8. That puts it 23% leaner than the typical public school in South Carolina, which averages around 622 students.

Sumter 01 comprises 24 schools with combined enrollment of 13,871 students; Bates Middle is among them.

On the student-mix side, Bates Middle logs that the largest single group is Black, at 69% of enrollment. The remainder reads as 20% White, 5% multiracial, 4% Hispanic. That is noticeably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 46%.

In terms of school funding signals, The school employs 37 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 13.2:1. The state averages about 13.8:1, putting this campus right in line with peers.

Across the wider county, Sumter County reports that median household income runs about $56,693, 24% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 13%. Across Sumter County's 27 public schools (combined enrollment of about 14,608 students), Bates Middle is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Wilder Elementary, around 0.5 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

Bates Middle operates from a city-core location.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 26%: 653 students in 2018 compared to 481 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 15.6:1 in 2018 to 13.2:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Bates Middle community share and discuss fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.