George W. Jenkins High School, 6000 Lakeland Highlands Road: grades 9-12, 2,469 students (2024-25), a B in Florida's 2026 school grades. 863-648-3566.

Last checked Oct. 9, 2026. Sources: Polk County Public Schools, its Address Zoning tool and school zones page, the school’s website, the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades, the federal NCES school directory, the U.S. Census Bureau’s geocoder and the Florida High School Athletic Association.

George W. Jenkins High School is a Polk County Public Schools high school on a 95-acre site on Lakeland Highlands Road in southeast Lakeland, founded in 1993, according to its website. The campus has a Lakeland mailing address but sits outside the city limits in unincorporated Polk County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s geocoder. Its zone covers part of south Lakeland: about 8% of the city addresses we checked for 2026-27.

Who to call

  • Front office: 863-648-3566, 6000 Lakeland Highlands Road, Lakeland, FL 33813
  • School website: georgejenkinshigh.polkschoolsfl.com
  • Which school am I zoned for? Pupil Accounting, 863-519-7600, option 1, or the Address Zoning tool
  • Buses: district Transportation Operations, 863-534-7300; the district’s South Lakeland line is 863-534-7308
Address 6000 Lakeland Highlands Road, Lakeland, FL 33813
Phone 863-648-3566
Grades 9 to 12
Principal Tom Patton
2026 state grade B (61% of points)
Mascot Eagles

Principal. Tom Patton is the principal, according to the school’s staff page.

The school has received the Florida Commissioner of Education’s “Five Star School” award for community involvement, its about page says.

Enrollment and teachers

  • Federal count: 2,469 students in the 2024-25 school year, with 115 full-time-equivalent classroom teachers, according to the NCES directory. That is about 21 students per teacher.

State report card

Florida gave George Jenkins High a B in its 2026 school grades, its third B in a row, with 61% of the points possible, according to the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades file. The school’s state report card has results by student group; it is an interactive dashboard that could not be read for this page.

2026 school grade measure Result
School grade B (61% of points)
English language arts achievement 61%
English language arts learning gains 57%
Math achievement 34%
Math learning gains 37%
Science achievement 72%
Social studies achievement 76%
Graduation rate, 2024-25 99%
College and career acceleration, 2024-25 89%

Florida grades schools A to F on the share of possible points earned across these measures. Achievement is the share of tested students on grade level; learning gains is the share who improved from the year before. For a high school, A is 65% of points or more, B is 60% to 64% and C is 45% to 59%, the state’s file says.

Attendance zone and feeder schools

Polk County assigns high schools by home address. We ran a random sample of 1,817 current address points from the City of Lakeland’s address layer through the district’s Address Zoning tool for 2026-27. About 8% were zoned for George Jenkins High.

Feeder schools. The district does not publish a feeder list; each grade is zoned by address, and the zones are not nested. Among the sampled city addresses zoned for George Jenkins, the district’s tool assigns middle school to Sleepy Hill Middle (57%), Southwest Middle (39%) and Crystal Lake Middle (4%). The elementary zones for those addresses are mostly R. Bruce Wagner (74%) and Southwest (22%).

Rezoning. The Polk County School Board approved new high school attendance boundaries on Jan. 27, 2026, effective with the 2026-27 school year, the district announced. Students already enrolled at a high school may stay there, with bus service if eligible; rising freshmen enroll at their new zoned school. In our sample, George Jenkins’ share of city addresses fell from 14% under the 2025-26 zones to 8%. The addresses that left its zone are now zoned for Tenoroc, Lakeland High and Kathleen.

Check any address on the district’s GeoZone map for 2026-27.

Calendar and bell times

From the district’s 2026-27 calendar (PDF), which the district labels tentative:

  • Friday, Oct. 16: no school for students
  • Friday, Oct. 30: early dismissal
  • Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, no school
  • Nov. 23-27: fall break
  • Monday, Dec. 21: winter break begins; students return Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2027

Bell times. School hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the first bell at 6:50 a.m., according to the school’s about page.

Sports and activities

In football, George Jenkins plays in Class 6A, Region 3, District 9 for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons, with Davenport, Haines City, Poinciana (Kissimmee), Ridge Community (Davenport) and Winter Haven, according to the Florida High School Athletic Association’s finalized football classifications (spreadsheet).

The school’s athletics page names Jestin Bailey as athletic director and links athletic tickets and required sports safety videos; its team list loads in a browser tab that could not be read for this page. Follow the season on our Friday night football page and scoreboard.

More on Lakeland schools

Frequently asked questions

What grades does George Jenkins High School serve?

George W. Jenkins High serves grades 9 through 12. It is at 6000 Lakeland Highlands Road with a Lakeland mailing address, and its main line is 863-648-3566.

What is George Jenkins High School’s Florida school grade?

George Jenkins High earned a B in Florida’s 2026 school grades, with 61% of possible points, its third B in a row. Its 2024-25 graduation rate was 99%.

Did the 2026 rezoning change George Jenkins High’s zone?

Yes. In our sample of Lakeland city addresses, its share fell from 14% under the 2025-26 zones to 8% for 2026-27; those addresses moved to Tenoroc, Lakeland High and Kathleen.

What time does George Jenkins High start?

School hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the first bell at 6:50 a.m., according to the school’s website.