Charlottesville Middle School, 1000 Cherry Ave.: grades 6-8 for the whole city, fully accredited, framework score 84.28. Office: 434-245-2411.

Last checked Oct. 19, 2026. Sources: Charlottesville Middle School, Charlottesville City Schools, the Virginia Department of Education’s School Quality Profile and the federal NCES school directory.

Charlottesville Middle School (CMS), formerly Buford Middle School, is the city’s only public middle school. The renovated and expanded building on Cherry Avenue is open and serves grades 6 to 8, according to Charlottesville City Schools. The school calls itself a unified middle school that serves all sixth, seventh and eighth graders in the city. Its students are the Young Knights.

Who to call

  • Front office: 434-245-2411, cms@charlottesvilleschools.org
  • Registrar (new students): Chris Kreitzman, 434-245-2411
  • Division office: 434-245-2400, 1562 Dairy Road
  • Director of Student Services (enrollment questions): 434-245-2405
  • Buses: the city’s Pupil Transportation Department runs school buses; walk zone questions go to 434-245-2400
Address 1000 Cherry Ave., Charlottesville, VA 22903
Phone 434-245-2411
Grades 6 to 8
School day 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Website cms.charlottesvilleschools.org
Division Charlottesville City Schools

Principal

Principal Summerlyn Thompson, according to the school’s website. The page says she was previously principal of Johnson Elementary and Walker Upper Elementary and became principal of CMS in 2026.

Enrollment and teachers

The latest published counts are from before sixth grade joined the school: the state counted only seventh and eighth graders here in fall 2025, and in 2023-24 sixth graders attended Walker Upper Elementary, according to the NCES directory.

  • State count: 573 students in grades 7 and 8 in fall 2025, up from 564 in 2024 and 561 in 2023, in the School Quality Profile.
  • Federal count: 559 students at Buford Middle in the 2023-24 school year, with 53 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That works out to about 11 students per teacher.

State report card

Virginia rates schools two ways. Accreditation checks that a school has the programs, staff and facilities the state requires. The School Performance and Support Framework gives each school a score with a target of 80 points; points are “assigned based on items ranging from test scores to attendance,” and the measures differ by school level, the division explained when the results came out Oct. 7.

  • Accreditation, 2025-26: Fully Accredited
  • Framework score: 84.28, rated Approaching Expectations, in the division summary. The division says a school drops one level when at least one student group is identified as needing targeted support.

Standards of Learning pass rates (share of tested students who passed):

Subject 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26
English reading 64% 63% 63%
Math 62% 58% 66%
Science 62% 50% 58%

The full profile also reports attendance, discipline and teacher data.

Attendance zone and feeder schools

All six city elementary schools feed CMS, and all CMS students go on to Charlottesville High School, according to the division’s attendance zones page. The feeder elementaries are Greenbrier, Jackson-Via, Summit, Sunrise, Tall Oaks and Trailblazer.

The division’s elementary rezoning plan, in stages in August 2027 and August 2029 at the earliest, changes only elementary zones and does not affect which middle school city students attend.

Calendar and bell times

From the division’s 2026-27 calendar:

  • Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 2-3: no school for students (staff days; Nov. 3 is Election Day)
  • Thursday, Nov. 26: Thanksgiving; the full break is marked on the calendar PDF
  • Friday, Dec. 18: second grading period ends
  • Friday, May 28, 2027: last day of school

The CMS day runs 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., with early dismissal at 12:45 p.m., according to the division’s daily routines page. Students see their own schedules in PowerSchool.

Programs and activities

The school’s about page lists high school credit classes in math, languages, engineering and urban farming; gifted support in reading and math classes; accelerated and honors courses; AVID; and the UVA Innovation Lab, which it says partners with UVA and the Smithsonian on science and engineering. Each grade is split into two teams.

Young Knights teams play football, volleyball, cheer, basketball, swimming, track, softball and baseball, and eighth graders can try out for Charlottesville High junior varsity teams, according to the athletics page. Students must keep passing grades in all classes, with weekly grade checks. An activity bus takes students home after practices.

More on Charlottesville schools

Frequently asked questions

What grades does Charlottesville Middle School serve?

Grades 6 through 8. It is the city’s only middle school and serves every sixth, seventh and eighth grader in Charlottesville City Schools.

Is Charlottesville Middle School the same as Buford Middle School?

Yes. The division renamed Buford Middle School, and the renovated and expanded Charlottesville Middle School on Cherry Avenue now serves grades 6-8.

How is Charlottesville Middle School rated by the state?

It is fully accredited. In the Virginia School Performance and Support Framework results announced Oct. 7, it scored 84.28 and is rated Approaching Expectations.

What time does Charlottesville Middle School start?

The school day runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., with early dismissal at 12:45 p.m., according to the division.

Which high school does Charlottesville Middle School feed into?

Charlottesville High School, the city’s only high school.