PONEMAH ELEMENTARY

PONEMAH ELEMENTARY is a primary school of minimally staffed scale in PONEMAH, Minnesota, one of the schools within RED LAKE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT, teacheing 136 students in grades pre-K through 8. By comparison, Minnesota's public schools average about 344 students each, so PONEMAH ELEMENTARY sits 60% leaner than that benchmark.

RED LAKE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT comprises 9 schools with combined enrollment of 1,519 students; PONEMAH ELEMENTARY is among them.

Demographically, PONEMAH ELEMENTARY lists that nearly all students (96%) are Native American. The remainder reads as 2% Hispanic.

In terms of school funding signals, The school lists 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 7.0:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.7:1 average. About 88% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Beltrami County runs at roughly 54%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, PONEMAH ELEMENTARY tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 17.6% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 5.5%.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Beltrami County) shows that median household earnings sit near $68,975, roughly 32% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Beltrami County's 38 public schools (combined enrollment of about 8,088 students), PONEMAH ELEMENTARY is one campus in the mix.

RED LAKE ALTERNATIVE LEARNING is the nearest neighboring public school, about 10.7 miles from this campus. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts PONEMAH ELEMENTARY at 4th of 4; the average score across the group is 8.0%.

The school occupies a countryside site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at PONEMAH ELEMENTARY has declined 33%, going from 203 students in 2018 to 136 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the PONEMAH ELEMENTARY community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.