Bear Lakes Middle, 3505 Shenandoah Blvd.: grades 6-8, 721 students on the district's Aug. 24 count and a C in Florida's 2026 grades.

Last checked Oct. 10, 2026. Sources: the school’s website, the School District of Palm Beach County’s Schools & Principals list, zone maps and feeder reports and start times, Palm Beach County’s address records, the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades file and the federal NCES school directory.

Bear Lakes Middle is a School District of Palm Beach County middle school on Shenandoah Boulevard, inside West Palm Beach city limits, according to Palm Beach County’s municipal boundary map. The district’s school information lists it as opened in 1989, with the Bruin as its mascot. Its day starts later than most: 9:30 a.m.

Who to call
Address 3505 Shenandoah Blvd., West Palm Beach, FL 33409
Phone 561-615-7700
Grades 6 to 8
School day 9:30 a.m. to 4:05 p.m.
City limits Inside West Palm Beach
District School District of Palm Beach County

Principal

Principal Kirk Howell, according to the district’s Schools & Principals list, which the school’s website links from its menu.

Enrollment and teachers

  • District count: 721 students, 5 of them in pre-K, on the 11th day of the 2026-27 school year (Aug. 24, 2026). The district rates the building for 1,433, so it is at 0% of capacity, according to its 11th Day Enrollment Report.
  • Federal count: 850 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 54 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That works out to about 16 students per teacher.

State report card

Florida grades every public school A to F, from the share of possible points it earns on state test results, learning gains and middle school acceleration, the share of students passing high school level courses and industry certifications.

School year Grade
2025-26 C (56% of possible points)
2024-25 B
2023-24 C
2022-23 D (informational baseline)

From the state’s 2026 school grades file, the share of students scoring on grade level on the state tests in 2025-26:

  • English language arts: 49%
  • Math: 53%
  • Science: 36%
  • Social studies: 65%
  • Middle school acceleration: 69%

The full report card is on the state’s Florida school report cards site, an interactive dashboard; the figures above come from the downloadable file.

Attendance zone and feeder schools

Check any address with the district’s Find My School map or the Bear Lakes zone map (PDF). Matching the district’s boundary map against Palm Beach County’s address records, about 29% of the homes inside West Palm Beach city limits, roughly 18,300, are zoned for Bear Lakes.

Under the district’s 2026-27 feeder report, Bear Lakes draws from 34 planning areas zoned for these elementary schools (number of areas in parentheses):

For high school, 32 go on to Palm Beach Lakes Community High and two go on to William T. Dwyer High.

The School Board’s only boundary change for 2026-27, Boundary Study RB-1, adopted March 11, 2026, redrew elementary zones in Riviera Beach, according to the district’s enrollment and boundaries page. That study consolidated the West Riviera and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune zones, which send three planning areas to Bear Lakes, with West Riviera serving pre-K to second grade and Bethune third to fifth grade.

Calendar and bell times

From the district’s 2026-27 key dates:

  • Monday, Oct. 12: no school for students; the second quarter starts Tuesday, Oct. 13
  • Tuesday, Nov. 3: no school for students
  • Wednesday, Nov. 11: fall holiday
  • Nov. 23-27: Thanksgiving break
  • Dec. 21 to Jan. 1, 2027: winter break; Monday, Jan. 4, is also a day off for students

The district’s start and end times list Bear Lakes’ day as 9:30 a.m. to 4:05 p.m.

Programs

The district’s 2026-27 Choice and In-House Programs guide (PDF) lists one choice program at Bear Lakes: Pre-Biotechnology. Applications go through the district’s school choice office.

More on West Palm Beach schools

Frequently asked questions

What grades does Bear Lakes Middle serve?

Grades 6 through 8. It is a School District of Palm Beach County middle school at 3505 Shenandoah Blvd., inside West Palm Beach city limits.

What is Bear Lakes Middle’s school grade?

Bear Lakes Middle earned a C in Florida’s 2026 school grades, with 56% of possible points. It earned a B in 2025 and a C in 2024.

Which high school does Bear Lakes Middle feed into?

Palm Beach Lakes Community High for 32 of its 34 planning areas under the district’s 2026-27 feeder report. Two areas zoned for the West Riviera and Bethune elementary schools go to William T. Dwyer High.

What time does Bear Lakes Middle start?

The district lists the school day as 9:30 a.m. to 4:05 p.m.