Whatcom Middle School

Located at 810 Halleck St, in Bellingham, Washington, Whatcom Middle School is a reasonably sized junior high that enrolls 637 students (grades 6 through 8), overseen by Bellingham School District.

Bellingham School District comprises 25 schools with combined enrollment of 11,337 students; Whatcom Middle School is among them.

On the student-mix side, Whatcom Middle School shows that the largest single group is White, at 59% of enrollment; the rest consists of 21% Hispanic, 10% multiracial, 8% Asian. The wider county runs roughly 78% White, putting the school's mix noticeably less White than the area baseline.

On the resource side, On paper, Whatcom Middle School has 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 18.5:1. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 42% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Whatcom Middle School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 51.8%, the actual is 50.9%, a residual of -0.8 points.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Whatcom County) records that the typical household earns roughly $81,784 per year, about 39% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Whatcom Middle School is one of 78 public schools in Whatcom County (combined enrollment of about 27,779 students).

The closest other public school is Bellingham High School, roughly 0.3 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Whatcom Middle School at 4th of 6; the average score across the group is 51.8%.

The campus sits in an inner-city setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Whatcom Middle School's enrollment has decreased 11% since 2018, when it stood at 717 (now 637). The White share of enrollment declined from 77% to 59% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 20.1:1 in 2018 to 18.5:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.