Kalama Elem School

Kalama Elem School operates as a moderately sized elementary-level community in Kalama, Washington, one of the schools within Kalama School District. Current enrollment sits at 525 students spanning grades K through 5. By comparison, Washington's public schools average about 380 students each, so Kalama Elem School sits 38% bigger than that benchmark.

Within Kalama School District, which oversees 3 schools and 1,138 students, Kalama Elem School is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Kalama Elem School records that the student body is overwhelmingly White (84%); the rest reads as 10% Hispanic, 3% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the resource side, Kalama Elem School records 39 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 13.3:1. The state averages around 17.3:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 38% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Cowlitz County runs at roughly 58%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Cowlitz County shows median household income runs about $76,531, 18% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. Kalama Elem School is one of 48 public schools in Cowlitz County (combined enrollment of about 17,080 students).

Nearest neighbor: Kalama Middle School, around 0.1 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 3 other public schools cluster around Kalama Elem School.

The school occupies a rural site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Kalama Elem School has ticked up 5%, going from 499 students in 2018 to 525 in 2025. Class-load math has pulled in: from 20.4:1 in 2018 to 13.3:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.