It opened in 2020 and was built to relieve overcrowding at East Bay High School in Gibsonton and Earl J. Lennard High School in Ruskin, though it also took some students from Joe E. Newsome High School in Lithia and from Durant High School in Plant City.

The school is named after Jule F. Sumner, who was an early settler of the Southshore area.

This is a part of the school's Academy 2027 program, to relieve overcrowding in middle schools in the area before a new one is built.

Sumner High School's fight song is The New Colonial March by R. B.

Demographic data includes the Academy 2027 program students.