Jinks Middle School

Jinks Middle School in Panama City, FL, serves 541 students in grades 6-8 and is part of the Bay district, with a high level of economic disadvantage as 59.5% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

The most critical issue at Jinks is its extreme chronic absenteeism rate of 49.4% in the 2023-2024 school year, which is nearly 3.4 times higher than the next highest nearby school (Mowat Middle School at 28.9%) and a staggering 3.7 times higher than high-performing charter schools like Bay Haven Charter Middle School (13.3%) and North Bay Haven Charter Academy Middle School (14.6%). This absenteeism directly correlates with low academic proficiency across most subjects and grade levels. For example, in 6th grade math, only 30% of Jinks students are proficient, compared to 89% at North Bay Haven and 70% at Bay Haven. The school has consistently ranked in the bottom 20% of Florida middle schools (1-star rating) for the past three years, while nearby charter schools rank in the top 20% (4-star rating).

Despite these challenges, Jinks has shown pockets of success in advanced math courses, with Algebra 1 proficiency reaching 85% in recent years, though this has dropped to 39% in the most recent data. The school spends $10,771 per student, which is higher than the charter schools but comparable to Merritt Brown Middle School ($10,960), suggesting that funding alone is not the issue. The stark contrast with nearby charter schools—which have lower poverty rates and dramatically lower absenteeism—highlights the deep-seated challenges related to student engagement that Jinks must overcome to improve outcomes for its students.