H. E. McCracken Middle, Bluffton: zone, report card and calendar

Last checked Oct. 12, 2026. Sources: the school’s website; the Beaufort County School District’s attendance zone maps, 2026-27 academic calendar and school choice page; the S.C. Department of Education’s 2024-25 report card and report card data files; and the federal NCES school directory.

H. E. McCracken Middle is a Beaufort County School District middle school for grades 6 to 8 at 250 H. E. McCracken Circle, the street it shares with Bluffton High and Bluffton Elementary. It earned an Average overall rating on South Carolina’s 2024-25 report card, with a Good rating for academic achievement and school climate.

Who to call

• Front office: 843-706-8700, 250 H. E. McCracken Circle
• School website: hemms.beaufortschools.net
• Enrolling a new student: register through the zoned school; the district’s registration page explains the steps. District office: 843-322-2300
• Which school is my address zoned for? the district’s attendance zone maps
• Buses: the district’s Bluffton area transportation supervisor, 843-706-8402, on the transportation page

Principal

Principal Aimee Whitesell, according to the school’s administration page, where she introduces herself as the school’s new principal and says she was most recently an assistant principal at Battery Creek High School and before that at May River High School. The state’s 2024-25 report card lists Roger E. Ward, the principal that year.

Enrollment and teachers

• State count: 846 students in the 2024-25 school year, according to the state’s report card.
• Federal count: 892 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 71 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That is about 13 students per teacher.

State report card

South Carolina rates every public school each year as Excellent, Good, Average, Below Average or Unsatisfactory. An Excellent rating means “school performance substantially exceeds the criteria to ensure all students meet the Profile of the SC Graduate,” according to the state’s report card site. The overall rating is built from indicators such as academic achievement, preparing for success, student progress, English learners’ progress and school climate, with graduation rate and college and career readiness added for high schools.

2024-25 rating: Average, 46 points. On the state’s middle school scale, Excellent 56 to 100, Good 48 to 55, Average 36 to 47, Below Average 29 to 35 and Unsatisfactory 28 and below.

On the spring 2025 SC READY tests in grades 6 to 8, 59.5% of students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts and 39% in math; on the state science test, 53.5% did, according to the state’s report card data. Across the district, in grades 3 to 8, the figures were 60.5% in English, 46.4% in math and 49.7% in science.

The full report card, with test results by group, teacher data, school safety and spending, is on the state’s SC School Report Cards site. The state publishes new ratings each fall.

Attendance zone

Check an address on the district’s middle school zone map. On the district’s 2024-25 maps, the H. E. McCracken Middle zone takes in the Pritchardville Elementary zone and most of the Bluffton Elementary zone, with small parts of the Michael C. Riley zone. Most of it lies in the May River High zone, with a smaller part in the Bluffton High zone; check the high school map.

The district says its maps are for reference only: Bluffton is growing fast, newer streets may not yet appear, and families should always confirm with the school. We did not find a published feeder list on the district’s site, so the pairings above come from laying the district’s elementary, middle and high school zone maps over each other.

Calendar and school hours

H. E. McCracken Middle follows the district’s 2026-27 calendar. Coming dates from the academic calendar (PDF):

• Tuesday, Oct. 13: end of the first quarter
• Tuesday, Nov. 3: Election Day, no school
• Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, no school
• Nov. 25-27: Thanksgiving break
• Dec. 23 to Jan. 5: winter break; students return Wednesday, Jan. 6

School hours: 8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., according to the school’s website.

Programs

The district lists Arts in Basic Curriculum as H. E. McCracken’s choice program; it describes arts integration as giving students extensive chances to learn through creative teaching and to express themselves in the arts. BCSD Choice programs let county families apply to a program at a school outside their zone; for 2026-27, applications were due Jan. 15, 2026, a lottery decides when a program has more applicants than seats, and the district does not provide buses to an out-of-zone choice school, according to the school choice page.

More

• The school’s own website and the district’s project page for the school’s buildings
• Every public school in Bluffton, with zones and report cards
• Our Bluffton schools guide for the district calendar, enrollment and the school board

Frequently asked questions

What grades does H. E. McCracken Middle serve?

H. E. McCracken Middle serves sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

What is H. E. McCracken Middle’s school rating?

H. E. McCracken Middle was rated Average, with 46 points on South Carolina’s 2024-25 school report card, the latest the state has published.

Which high school does H. E. McCracken Middle feed into?

On the district’s 2024-25 zone maps, most of the H. E. McCracken Middle zone lies in the May River High zone, with a smaller part in the Bluffton High zone. Its elementary schools are Pritchardville and most of Bluffton Elementary.

What time does H. E. McCracken Middle start?

The school day runs 8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., according to the school’s website.

How do I know if my address is zoned for H. E. McCracken Middle?

Check the Beaufort County School District’s attendance zone maps, then confirm with the school at 843-706-8700. The district says newer streets may not yet appear on the maps.