E K Baker Elementary

E K Baker Elementary is one of the compact primary schools in Athens, Tennessee, operated by McMinn County, with 307 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 8. That puts it 35% smaller than the typical public school in Tennessee, which averages around 470 students.

Across the 9 schools in McMinn County (5,051 students total), E K Baker Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

In terms of who attends, E K Baker Elementary reports that 87% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder consists of 6% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (McMinn County) logs that the typical household earns roughly $61,470 per year, roughly 19% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. Across McMinn County's 17 public schools (combined enrollment of about 7,131 students), E K Baker Elementary is one campus in the mix.

McMinn High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 4.7 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint.

The school occupies a countryside site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 11%: 346 students in 2018 compared to 307 in 2025.

On the community side, the feed for E K Baker Elementary typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.