Lakewood Schools (Olympia, Fort Lewis, Steilacoom: school district, living, relocating to)

[ludwickvon]

Hello everyone, we are relocating to the JBLM area this summer and are seriously considering living on JBLM for a few reasons. Our primary concern however is the schools (Lakes and Mann) as we are leaving some very highly rated schools in Northern Virginia. The schools don't have very high ratings, but knowing that the rankings come mostly from standardized tests scores we are cautiously optimistic that our kids can continue to be successful there.

Does anyone have any insight into what any issues or concerns might be about the schools from a crime/drugs/behavior point of view?

[Sandy Nelson]

I don't know what resources you're using for school ratings. I would recommend visiting the site of the Superintendant of Public Instruction. They don't give ratings for each school, but they let you compare schools side by side to see how they stack up on various criteria. This way you can judge on things that are important to you. The data they show include standardized test scores, but also student ethnicity, teacher education levels, student-teacher ratios, special programs etc.
Here is the link: Washington State Report Card
You'll have to know the school district and names of the schools you want to compare.
Lakewood schools and Fort Lewis schools are in the Clover Park school district. Dupont is in the Steilacoom school district. If good schools are important, you'll also want to check out the Olympia school district.

I hope this helps.

[ludwickvon]

Thanks Sandy, I hadn't seen that site before. It's a good tool for looking at the numbers of the schools. I guess what I'm hoping to find out is what types of experiences, both good and bad, parents have had at the Lakewood schools. We're especially interested in Lakes High School and Mann Middle.

[snuggler]

We've been stationed at Lewis twice and are headed back next summer. Our son was in the Lakewood school district in for K-2nd, and the only way I would live on post is if we decided to pay for private school. We still have quite a few friends in the area; they have all moved off-post and a major factor for that decision for all of them was school quality.