Lackamas Elementary

Set in Yelm, Washington, Lackamas Elementary is a close-knit elementary campus, operated by Yelm School District. It hosts 290 students across grades pre-K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 380 students per school, that is 24% leaner than typical.

Yelm School District runs 10 schools in total, collectively educating 5,671 students. Lackamas Elementary is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, Lackamas Elementary lists that 65% of the student body identifies as White. The remainder reads as 19% Hispanic, 11% multiracial, 2% Asian.

In terms of school funding signals, Lackamas Elementary records 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 17.5:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 52% of students at Lackamas Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is north of Thurston County's rate of about 43%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Lackamas Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 45.0% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 39.1%.

In the broader community, census data for Thurston County shows median household earnings sit near $96,563, roughly 39% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Across Thurston County's 86 public schools (combined enrollment of about 44,412 students), Lackamas Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is McKenna Elementary, roughly 6.8 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. On composite proficiency, Lackamas Elementary comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 49.9%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 13%: 333 students in 2018 compared to 290 in 2025. The White share of enrollment edged down from 73% to 65% over that span.

On allk12, the feed for Lackamas Elementary typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.