Howell L. Watkins Middle, 9480 MacArthur Blvd.: grades 6-8, 563 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.

Howell L. Watkins Middle is the School District of Palm Beach County’s middle school for grades 6 to 8 on MacArthur Boulevard, on the east side of Palm Beach Gardens and inside city limits, according to the district’s municipal boundary map. It is the city’s oldest middle school: the district’s school information lists it as opened in 1962. The teams are the Seminoles.

Who to call
Address 9480 MacArthur Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33403
Phone 561-776-3600
Grades 6 to 8
School day 9:30 a.m. to 4:05 p.m.
District School District of Palm Beach County

Principal

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

Enrollment and teachers

  • District count: 563 students on the 11th day of the 2026-27 school year (Aug. 24, 2026). The district rates the building for 1,252, so it is at 45% of capacity, according to its 11th Day Enrollment Report.
  • Federal count: 720 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 52 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That works out to about 14 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, for middle schools, how many students pass high school courses and industry certifications early (middle school acceleration).

School year Grade
2025-26 C (54% of possible points)
2024-25 C
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: 50%
  • Math: 51%
  • Science: 42%
  • Social studies: 67%
  • Middle school acceleration: 77%

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 Watkins zone map (PDF). Matching the district’s boundary map against Palm Beach County’s address records, about 26% of the homes inside Palm Beach Gardens city limits are zoned for Watkins, all of them on the east side of the city. Most of the rest are zoned for Watson B. Duncan Middle.

Under the district’s 2026-27 feeder report, which follows each planning area from elementary to middle to high school, Watkins takes students from these elementary zones:

Elementary zone Planning areas Next stop
The Conservatory School @ North Palm Beach 20 Palm Beach Gardens High (13), Dwyer High (7)
Allamanda 6 Palm Beach Gardens High
Dwight D. Eisenhower K-8 6 Dwyer High
Washington 6 Palm Beach Gardens High
West Riviera and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune 5 Dwyer High
Lake Park 3 Palm Beach Gardens High
Palm Beach Gardens Elementary 2 Palm Beach Gardens High

Eisenhower and The Conservatory School are K-8 schools, but the district says their grades 6 to 8 have no attendance areas and admit by choice application, according to its elementary zone maps page. The feeder report lists Watkins as the zoned middle school for those areas.

No rezoning approved for 2026-27 changes the Watkins zone itself. The School Board’s only boundary change, Boundary Study RB-1, adopted March 11, 2026, consolidated the West Riviera and Bethune elementary zones in Riviera Beach and moved part of the Bethune zone north of Blue Heron Boulevard to Washington Elementary, according to the district’s enrollment and boundaries page. Both are elementary zones that feed Watkins.

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 Watkins’ 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 two choice programs at Watkins: Pre-Medical Sciences and Robotics and Aviation (STEM). The school’s choice programs page also lists a Cambridge Academy. Choice programs take applications through the district’s school choice office.

Sports and activities

The school’s sports page lists its seasons: baseball and softball start in August, boys soccer and girls volleyball in October, boys and girls basketball in January, girls soccer in February, and boys volleyball and track and field in March. Students need a completed athletic packet before tryouts; the school asks families to call the front office with questions.

More on Palm Beach Gardens schools

Frequently asked questions

What grades does Howell L. Watkins Middle serve?

Grades 6 through 8. It is a School District of Palm Beach County middle school at 9480 MacArthur Blvd., inside Palm Beach Gardens city limits.

What is Watkins Middle’s school grade?

Howell L. Watkins Middle earned a C in Florida’s 2026 school grades, with 54% of possible points. It also earned a C in 2025 and 2024.

Which high school does Watkins Middle feed into?

It depends on the address. Under the district’s 2026-27 feeder report, the Allamanda, Palm Beach Gardens Elementary, Lake Park and Washington areas go on to Palm Beach Gardens Community High, and the Eisenhower K-8 areas go to William T. Dwyer High. The Conservatory School @ North Palm Beach areas split between the two.

What time does Watkins Middle start?

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