Sennett Middle

Sennett Middle is one of the average-sized middle-grades schools in Madison, Wisconsin, run under Madison Metropolitan School District, with 570 students on its rolls from grades 6 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 50% larger than the state mean of about 381.

Across the 53 schools in Madison Metropolitan School District (25,155 students total), Sennett Middle accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Sennett Middle records that 39% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups; the rest breaks down as 28% White, 14% Black, 13% multiracial, 6% Asian. The wider county runs roughly 8% Hispanic, putting the school's mix visibly more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school lists 47 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 12.2:1. The state averages about 12.8:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Roughly 53% of students at Sennett Middle qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is above Dane County's rate of about 32%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Sennett Middle performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 45.4%, the actual is 33.9%, a residual of -11.5 points.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Dane County put median household earnings sit near $89,975, roughly 55% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Dane County's 169 public schools (combined enrollment of about 78,525 students), Sennett Middle is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is LaFollette High, roughly 0.1 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Sennett Middle comes 7th of 8 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 46.0%.

The school occupies a city-core site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 15%: 671 students in 2018 compared to 570 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share contracted from 20% to 14%.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.