PODER Academy

PODER Academy is an elementary school of medium-sized scale in Cheyenne, Wyoming, run under Laramie County School District #1, caters to 214 students in grades K through 6.

Within Laramie County School District #1, which oversees 39 schools and 13,426 students, PODER Academy is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, PODER Academy lists that the most-represented group is White (51%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest comes out to 33% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 4% Black, 3% Native American. That is visibly less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 80%.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, PODER Academy has 15 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.4:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 10.6:1 average. Around 50% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Laramie County shows median household income runs about $80,173, roughly 33% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. PODER Academy is one of 49 public schools in Laramie County (combined enrollment of about 14,606 students).

Arp Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around PODER Academy.

Geographically, the school is in an inner-city area. As a public charter, PODER Academy runs on public funding but with greater curricular and operational autonomy than a typical district school.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged up 23%: 174 students in 2018 compared to 214 in 2025. The White share of enrollment fell from 61% to 51% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 21.1:1 in 2018 to 14.4:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.