Thomas C. Cario Middle, 3500 Thomas Cario Blvd.: sixth through eighth grade, 1,105 students in 2024-25, rated Excellent on the state report card.
Last checked Oct. 16, 2026. Sources: the school’s website; the school’s administration page; Charleston County School District’s school lookup tool, 2026-27 academic calendar and 2026-27 bell schedule; the S.C. Department of Education’s 2024-25 report card data files; the federal NCES school directory.
Thomas C. Cario Middle, usually called Cario, is a Charleston County School District middle school on Thomas Cario Boulevard, on the same road as Laurel Hill Primary and Charles Pinckney Elementary. It was rated Excellent, with 68 points, on South Carolina’s 2024-25 report card.
Who to call
- Front office: 843-856-4595, 3500 Thomas Cario Blvd.
- School website: cario.ccsdschools.com
- Enrolling a new student: register at the zoned school; the district lists what to bring on its required documents page. District office: 843-937-6300
- Which school is my address zoned for? the district’s school lookup tool
- Buses: the district’s transportation page, with its 2026-27 bus stop locator
| Address | 3500 Thomas Cario Blvd., Mount Pleasant, SC 29466 |
| Phone | 843-856-4595 |
| Grades | 6 to 8 |
| District | Charleston County School District |
| School hours | 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. |
| State school ID | 1001103 |
Principal
Principal Bryan Coleman, according to the school’s administration page.
Enrollment and teachers
- State count: 1,105 students in the 2024-25 school year, according to the state’s report card data.
- Federal count: 1,130 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 62 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That is about 18 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: Excellent, 68 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.
| Indicator | 2024-25 rating |
|---|---|
| Academic achievement | Excellent |
| Preparing for success | Excellent |
| Student progress | Good |
| English learners’ progress | Good |
| School climate | Excellent |
On the spring 2025 SC READY tests in grades 6 to 8, 85.4% of students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts and 78% in math; on the state science test, 78.9% did, according to the state’s report card data.
Across Charleston County School District, in grades 3 to 8, the figures were 67.6% in English, 56.2% in math and 57.2% 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 with the district’s school lookup tool, which the district links from its lookup page.
In the district’s zone layers, the Cario Middle zone is fed by Carolina Park Elementary and by the Laurel Hill Primary and Charles Pinckney Elementary pair, and all of it feeds Wando High.
We did not find a published feeder list on the district’s site, so these pairings come from the district’s own zone layers. The 2026-27 elementary zones in those layers match 2025-26 for every Mount Pleasant zone, and we found no rezoning approved by the board that changes them; where a zone is split, the street address decides.
Calendar and school hours
Thomas C. Cario Middle follows Charleston County School District’s 2026-27 calendar. Coming dates from the academic calendar (PDF):
- Tuesday, Nov. 3: Election Day, schools closed
- Nov. 23-24: no school; both are weather make-up days if the district needs them
- Nov. 25-27: fall break
- Friday, Dec. 18: half day
- Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: winter break; students return Tuesday, Jan. 5
School hours: 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with arrival from 8:05 a.m., according to the district’s 2026-27 bell schedule (PDF). Early-release days end at 1:30 p.m. and half days at 11:45 a.m.
More
- The district’s middle schools page
- Every public school in Mount Pleasant, with zones and report cards
- Our Mount Pleasant schools guide for the district calendar, enrollment and the school board
Frequently asked questions
What grades does Thomas C. Cario Middle serve?
Thomas C. Cario Middle serves sixth through eighth grade, according to the state’s 2024-25 report card.
What is Thomas C. Cario Middle’s school rating?
Thomas C. Cario Middle was rated Excellent, with 68 points, on South Carolina’s 2024-25 school report card, the latest the state has published.
Which high school does Thomas C. Cario Middle feed into?
Wando High. In Charleston County School District’s zone layers, the whole Cario zone feeds Wando.
What time does Thomas C. Cario Middle start?
The school day runs 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with arrival from 8:05 a.m., according to Charleston County School District’s 2026-27 bell schedule.
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