William M. Bass Elementary

Located at 1730 Seabury Ave, in Lynchburg, Virginia, William M. Bass Elementary is a minimally staffed elementary school that hosts 188 students (grades pre-K through 5), overseen by Lynchburg City Public Schools. Enrollment runs roughly 62% smaller than the state mean of about 499.

Lynchburg City Public Schools comprises 16 schools with combined enrollment of 7,657 students; William M. Bass Elementary is among them.

Demographically, William M. Bass Elementary logs that the largest single group is Black at 46%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 23% White, 20% multiracial, 11% Hispanic. By comparison, Lynchburg city as a whole is about 27% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, On paper, William M. Bass Elementary has 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 9.4:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.8:1 average. About 95% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

With demographic context factored in, William M. Bass Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 62.3%, the actual is 65.1%, a residual of +2.8 points.

In the surrounding community, Lynchburg city reports that median household income runs about $57,947, about 39% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 12% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Lynchburg city runs 24 public schools (combined enrollment of about 7,657 students), of which William M. Bass Elementary is one.

Robert S. Payne Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.1 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts William M. Bass Elementary at 2nd of 9; the average score across the group is 55.4%.

Geographically, the school is in a city-core area.

Trend over the last 7 years. William M. Bass Elementary's enrollment has fell 21% since 2018, when it stood at 238 (now 188). Over the same period, the Black share edged down from 68% to 46%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 12.1:1 in 2018 to 9.4:1 in 2025.

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